[8][9] In February 2004, the Minister for Higher Education, Alan Johnson, announced to Parliament that the first Chief executive of the Academy would be Paul Ramsden.
[10] The Bell Review Archived 20 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine recommended a single sector agency for equality and diversity, learning and teaching, and leadership and governance in higher education.
[11] Consequently, the Academy merged with the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education and the Equality Challenge Unit to form Advance HE on 21 March 2018.
We do this by recognising and rewarding excellent teaching, bringing together people and resources to research and share best practice, and by helping to influence, shape and implement policy.
[13] The scheme consists of four "descriptors" corresponding to different roles in higher education, and defines the areas of activity, core knowledge and professional values expected at each level.
Advance HE manage the Athena Swan Charter framework (established in 2005) which is used to support gender equality within higher education and research.
[18] In June 2022, Advance HE announced it would change its guidelines that ask universities to commit to "collective understanding that individuals have the right to determine their own gender identity and tackling the specific issues faced by trans and non-binary people".
[20] These grades can be awarded on the basis of an assessed portfolio (containing a candidate's statement and supporting references) or on completion of an accredited course such as a PGCHE or PGCAP.