Within the landscape of higher education, an expectation now exists that scholarship forms a fundamental part of how providers operate (Higher Education Quality and Standards Framework [Threshold Standards] (2015).
This paper is based on a case study of one independent higher education provider that set out to create a sustainable culture of scholarship as core business for both full time and sessional staff. The case study focuses upon necessary partnerships within and beyond the Institution in that process, capitalising upon holistic approaches and interconnections with others. Consultation extended to accessing seminal and contemporary literature about the scholarship of learning and teaching and relevant regulatory guidelines (for example, TEQSA Guidance note: Scholarship 2017). Consultation also assisted in the identification of transparent scholarship principles that guided decision making throughout the organisation and provided a purposeful context for scholarship, grounded in the aim to engage and inspire students and staff, enriching the learning experience and fostering an intellectual environment of reflection, debate, synthesis and the critical analysis of advanced knowledge.
The operationalisation of scholarship was addressed from the perspective of two interrelated approaches; supporting and managing scholarship. The support of scholarship largely occurs through various forms of professional development (see Trigwell, Martin, Benjamin & Prosser 2000; Bennett, Hobson, Jones, Martin-Lynch, Strehlow & Veitch 2016; Coldwell 2017) and processes that reward excellence whereas its management focuses upon governance, policies, procedures, access to reliable data, the creation of new roles and the allocation of financial resources sufficient to meet institutional goals with respect to scholarship.
Finally, the authors suggest a model for creating a sustainable culture of scholarship based upon the case study that can be applied to other provider contexts.