AURIL KT CPD Framework

AURIL's KT CPD Framework was researched and designed by Professor Barry Warrington in collaboration with AURIL members in 2001.  It was subsequently updated in 2006 with ProTon as a result of developments in the sector.

The study analysed the roles and responsibilities of those working in Knowledge Transfer, split them into generic activities and designed a framework around management competency standards, condensed into 8 key managing roles:

• Information & Communications
• Relationships
• Projects
• The Commercial Interface
• Legal Operations
• Problem Solving & Decision Making
• Leadership
• The KT Office.

The CPD Framework document provides a framework for the continuing professional development needs of knowledge transfer (KT) practitioners engaged in developing and supporting knowledge exchange links, relationships and partnerships between universities, public research organisations, private sector research bodies, industry and a range of external organisations involved in KT.

It is an evolving document which will continue to be assessed and revised periodically according to developments and feedback from users and will contribute to the understanding and development of professional standards.

The format and approach adopted has been designed to be comparable to standards being adopted by other professional bodies as well as being similar in format to the more generic management standards established by the Management Charter Initiative in the UK during the 1990s and now overseen by the Management Standards Centre.

Adopting such an approach clearly has advantages, particularly when trying to assess an individual’s competence and CPD achievement record at a significant career point, such as a change in job role.
Equally however, in attempting to make the detail more generic, there is always the danger that the context specific elements of the job role will be lost. This might make it difficult for an individual user to relate their experiences of the job role to the units and elements of a proposed standard.

In relation to these proposed standards an attempt has been made to overcome this problem by supporting the material with documentation that attempts to indicate in effect ‘What the details might mean in practice’, ‘What needs to be known and understood’ and ‘What skills will be required’.  This approach has therefore attempted to ensure some degree of balance between the desire to facilitate comparability across similar professional and managerial positions whilst retaining what is regarded as the context specific elements of the KT function.

Who is it for?

The original and recent research, which provided the supporting material for these standards, highlighted the fact that the organisational settings in which the KT function resides are extremely varied in terms of size and scope. In some PROs the KT office (KTO) may employ several people whilst in others it may simply be a one-person unit. This might be a reflection of the fact that many of the activities of the KT function are decentralised into different sections and departments of the PRO. This has been supported by further subsequent research studies.

These standards are aimed at those people in KT offices (KTOs) for whom a primary responsibility is that of managing operations and tasks related to activity at the interface between the PRO and the wider external environment. It is, however, recognised that in many situations a person fulfilling such a role may also be managing support staff and be responsible for the day-to-day management and administration requirements of the unit. Whilst there is some degree of overlap between the standards outlined in this document and the more generic management standards, it is proposed that for guidance in relation to the more generic management skills, these proposed KT Practitioner standards are used in conjunction with the management standards. For those people, possibly in larger KT Units, whose primary responsibility is that of managing teams of professional staff, and who are seeking CPD guidance, reference to the management standards presented by the Management Standards Centre is likely to prove more appropriate.

The following profile of a KT Practitioner, which has been derived from the various research studies, may help to provide further clarification as to the intended audience.

The KT Practitioner is likely to have a first degree and may have a higher degree or a professional qualification. The first degree and higher degree are typically likely to be in a non-business/commercial discipline such as science, engineering or languages, to an extent reflecting the diversity of backgrounds from which KT Practitioners are drawn. The professional or postgraduate qualification is likely to be in a more job related field, i.e. qualifications such as the MBA or those from professional bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK. In many organisational settings the position is regarded as a middle management post.

As well as people who are employed specifically within the KTO, it is recognised that there are many other people within the PRO who are operating at department level and who fulfil some of the operational activities of the KT Practitioner role. These standards may have some interest for such individuals. This is particularly likely to be the case for those people in such positions who find that progressively more of their time is taken up in knowledge transfer activity and who may be working in a collaborative capacity with KT Practitioners in their PRO.