Study Group sharpens focus on Learning Effectiveness with a new senior leadership appointment
Study Group sharpens focus on Learning Effectiveness with a new senior leadership appointment
Leading international education provider Study Group is delighted to welcome Professor Sara de Freitas as Executive Director for Learning Effectiveness. In this newly created global role, Sara brings her wealth of expertise in education strategy development to lead a team focussed on improving teaching efficacy, along with continuous improvements in student engagement and outcomes.
Drawing on her extensive academic and leadership expertise in educational strategy, Sara will work closely with Study Group’s executive and management teams, providing direction and support to the needs of faculty. Sara will also develop Study Group’s educational policy and strategy framework driving excellence in educational practice, academic quality and monitoring, supporting partnerships and teaching innovation.
Study Group’s strong focus on innovation with its university partners will also benefit from Sara’s research in areas such as delivering blended learning to transnational students and her considerable experience as a sector thought leader on teaching quality.
Study Group’s Chief Learning Experience Officer Dr Mark Cunnington describes the appointment as an important step forward for the organisation:
“We are thrilled to announce this important appointment, which is vital for Study Group to ensure that we continue to innovate and deliver the very best learning experience for our students.
“Sara brings extensive senior management experience in higher education and universities and more recently in the commercial sector. She has operated at Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Deputy-Vice-Chancellor levels both in the UK and in Australia.
“Alongside her leadership experience, Sara has successfully driven revenue growth within universities and raised major funding for research and educational activities. Additionally, she has led research and published extensively, particularly in the field of digital education.
“We welcome Sara to Study Group and look forward to working closely with her in the continued transformation of the learning experiences we provide students across all of our programmes, platforms and learning centres.”
Professor Sara de Freitas’s background
Sara is an educator, author, researcher and public speaker with twenty-five years in education. She has worked in six universities in Australia and the United Kingdom in various roles from Research Fellow to Deputy Vice-Chancellor, with experience in education and research portfolios.
Moving into the industry as a Director of Education for a PLC company and a School Leader for InterHigh and Academy21, Sara is now Executive Director at Study Group focusing on international and transnational education. She is a passionate advocate for high-quality learning and teaching and applied, translational and discovery research that creates social and economic benefits for local, regional and international growth and renewal.
She has published seven books and 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers, as well as over 20 book chapters and 100 technical reports and strategies. Her cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral influence upon the academic domains of educational technology and higher education policy and leadership development has been fostered by sitting on over 80 programme committees and advisory groups and undertaking over 160 international keynotes, presentations and public lectures in four continents. Sara is currently working as a University Governor and holds a Visiting Professorship and Fellowships.
