Community
Connection
Collaboration
Enhancing education through
community, connection and collaboration.
About Professor Karen Heard-Lauréote
PhD, NTF, PFHEA, SFSEDA, FAHEP, FIoL
With over 20 years in higher education, including senior executive leadership as a Vice Provost Education and a personal chair as Professor of Education and Society, I help universities, sector bodies and private providers strengthen quality, governance and the student experience.
I am a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA), a National Teaching Fellow (NTF), a Senior Fellow of SEDA (SFSEDA) and an ILM-accredited executive mentor.
I led an institution to Triple Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework, one of only around 14 in the UK to hold it, and I now advise providers on regulation, strategy and change, including as an AHEP-appointed and JISC-registered consultant and an Office for Students quality assessor.
I emphasise community, connection and collaboration in all my work, balancing constructive challenge with practical support.
To see recommendations from previous clients about my work, please visit my LinkedIn Profile.
My Services
Professional Mentoring
Support for academic and professional roles, helping you achieve progression via promotion, fellowship or transition to independent consulting.
Consultancy
Helping higher education providers improve their strategy and policies across educational standards, student transition and evaluative culture.
Teaching Excellence
A range of services for higher education providers working towards teaching excellence including student partnership development, strategic initiatives and curriculum enhancement.
Team Development
Support for higher education providers to develop their teams through initiatives including away day facilitation, academic peer networks and academic development.
Community
Connection
Collaboration
My Blog
What a Student is Assumed to Know
Twenty years of effort to widen access to university has, by one measure, worked. In England, a quarter of full-time entrants now come from the most deprived fifth of neighbourhoods, which is more than come from the least deprived fifth. That is no small achievement,...
Who holds the standard?
The sector's own quality code was finalised this week. It has rested on twelve agreed principles since 2024; three sets of practical advice were issued last summer, and the remaining nine were published on Wednesday, completing the set. The reception has been warm and...
What a university might “owe” a student in difficulty
A court in the United States decided this summer that a university was responsible, in part, for the death of a student at a fraternity party; a student society of the residential, invitation-only kind common in American universities. The university had not organised...