Specialist and Supporting Academic (SSA) Promotion

Applicable to the Specialist and Supporting Academic (SSA) job family

The University is committed to upholding freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law. Nothing contained herein should be read as undermining or conflicting with the free speech code of practice and that in case of any conflict the free speech code of practice will take precedence.

At Loughborough, we recognise that the success of our University is built on the talent, dedication and growth of our staff. We are committed to creating an environment where professional development is encouraged, supported, and celebrated. We actively foster a culture of lifelong learning that reflects our values to ensure we continue to provide an outstanding educational experience for our students.

We have been working for some time to develop a promotions process for the SSA job family. We are pleased to now be able to launch this process as a pilot, using learning from this to inform further and final developments to the criteria and process, which we will agree and sign off by the end of the 2025 calendar year.  

The new Specialist and Supporting Academic (SSA) career path at Loughborough involves colleagues making an application to the University via the Deans of School, to be considered for promotion using an agreed set of criteria.

Supporting the University’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion aim, the career pathways are designed to:

Be inclusive and reflective of the Academy and wider society.
Be objective, fair and transparent.
Be aligned to the University’s vision, purpose and values.
Build a talent pipeline to ensure the continued success of the University.

Please use the templates on this page for applications to the promotion committees for the inaugural SSA promotions round in October 2025.

If you have any questions about applying for academic promotion, please contact your Dean of School in the first instance.

Meeting date and submission deadline

Committee	Meeting date	HR submission date
SSA Promotion Pilot Committee	DATE TBC	TBC

Your school will publish its own deadline for the School Promotions Committee, which is the first step in reviewing your application. If your application is endorsed at this level, it will then advance to the University committee and be submitted to HR by the stated deadline.