Just 37% of Warwick’s academic staff have teacher training

The University of Warwick has failed to feature highly in the Times Higher Education new ranking which rates English universities based on which have the most qualified teaching staff.

This is despite the University’s claim of having an “acknowledged reputation for excellence in teaching”.

According to the ranking, out of Warwick’s 1,970 members of academic staff, just 37% hold a teaching qualification.

The data used to create the ranking was collected between 2014 and 2015 and analysed by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

According to HESA, a member of academic staff is qualified if they hold a “credit-bearing education teaching qualification, or another relevant teaching qualification, or have been recognised in other ways for their teaching expertise.”

In response, a spokesperson for the University stated: “One of the key problems with this table is that it says that it is a percentage of all academic staff.

“Clearly the research-led universities will have many more research-only, or research-focused, academic staff than the newer universities which will have higher proportions of teaching-only staff. So, any table constructed in that way is bound to have institutions with higher proportions of teaching-only staff dominating the top half of the table.”

The University of Huddersfield tops the ranking, with 90% of its 780 academic teaching staff holding a teaching qualification, whilst the London Business School ranks bottom, with no known staff holding a teaching qualification.

With regards to the importance of lecturers holding teaching qualification, Constance Bobotsi, a first-year Politics and International Studies student, commented: “Other aspects are equally important in a lecturer, and it’s a pity not to hire someone who has lots of knowledge and charisma only because they don’t have a qualification in teaching.”