Role
Cali is a Senior Quality and Standards Advisor in the Academic Quality Team. She actively supports academic schools to assure and enhance the quality of learning and teaching by contributing to the development and oversight of the University’s policy. She is the team lead on education policy related to governance. Cali serves as Executive Officer to the Academic Standards and Quality Committee; a University level committee which oversees academic assurance and enhancement policies and strategies to ensure that the University continues to meet the requirements of external regulatory bodies. She also serves as Executive Officer to the Cross-School Academic Quality and Standards Committee which oversees courses which are designed to work across several Schools.
Career overview
Whilst completing her undergraduate degree in Scotland, Cali had the opportunity to co-create a module with an academic which sparked her interest to pursue a career in higher education. She went on to complete an MA Student Affairs in Higher Education at Anglia Ruskin University and, since then, Cali has worked a variety of contract-based roles across various institutions. Types of projects include:
- Leading a submission to the THE Impact Ranking and supporting the redevelopment of the institution’s sustainability strategy based on the findings;
- managing a project to identify student priorities that informed a new education strategy;
- coordinating a network of 1600 academic representatives including recruitment, training and support;
- managing relationships and coordinating with education ministries in South America and institutions in the Middle East for English language teaching qualifications.
Since 2020, Cali has worked in quality assurance related roles; firstly, at a London Business School where she focused on COVID recovery and the development of an online teaching and learning forum. More recently she worked as a Quality and Policy Manager at University of Cambridge where she advised a School on quality matters, serviced multiple committees and lead on student engagement education policy.
Research areas
Alongside her role, Cali is currently completing a PhD in Education and Social Justice where she explores topics such as understanding social justice internationally, promoting social justice through education, and global social movements related to education. She is interested in research related to non-traditional routes through university, such as apprenticeships and higher nationals, and enhancing opportunities for those who would not ordinarily consider higher education to be for them. Cali also has a research interest in sustainable development and universities’ roles in contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
External activity
Cali is in her second term as a Student Representative on the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Student Strategic Advisory Committee (SSAC) which meets three times a year to facilitate discussion between students and QAA on development sin the higher education sector. SSAC meetings are attended by QAA’s Chief Executive and other members of the QAA Board, and have shaped national student-centred projects and influenced QAA’s overall strategy. Cali has also been a member of Association of Higher Education Professionals (previously Association of Unievrsity Administrators) since 2018 and engages with their quality, governance and student engagement networks.