by Kamakshi Rajagopal, Media and Learning Association.
Over the past years, interest in the topic of Centres for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) has been steadily growing within the M&L community. At our annual conferences, CTLs have taken centre-stage, with many workshops and keynotes exploring their role, and many members indicating upcoming institutional initiatives around these organisational structures. This growing interest led to a dedicated pre-conference workshop on CTLs in 2025, organised by the Media & Learning Association in collaboration with Npuls. Following this workshop, and in response to the strong interest and engagement it generated, the Media & Learning Association established the Special Interest Group on Centres for Teaching and Learning (CTL SIG) in 2025. The SIG aims to better identify and recognise the needs, challenges and achievements associated with this unique form of organisational development in higher education institutions globally.
In Spring 2026, MLA’s CTL SIG conducted a member survey on the development, main activities and current challenges of Centres of Teaching and Learning in member institutions, to understand them better. The SIG currently represents 33 individuals from 16 MLA member organisations, primarily universities and other higher education institutions, that have CTLs or are currently developing them.
What is a Centre of Teaching and Learning, and why are they booming?
Higher Education is constantly changing: new understanding in educational science, new innovations in pedagogy or advancements in technology drive these institutions to continuously develop their pedagogical approaches, to offer relevant, up-to-date learning environments to their students. As various expertise and disciplines are required, this poses a diversity of organisational challenges. A Centre for Teaching & Learning is the organisational structure within a HEI that supports teachers and educational professionals in innovating their educational practice, through training, advice and support in educational innovation (based on the Npuls definition).
Initial Results of the member survey
To get a clearer picture of how CTLs function within educational institutions, we ran a survey among our members in April-May 2026. In total, 15 representatives of CTLs took part. The survey combined multiple-choice questions (asking for number of staff, organisational positioning and primary target group) with a few open questions, giving respondents room to share more nuanced answers in their own words.
Here are some of the initial results from the survey:
- 60% of respondents indicated having a centralised CTL, versus 20% working in decentralised organisation. 20% indicated using other types of organisational structures.
- CTLs cater primarily to academic staff (8 out of 15), students (1 out of 15) and both (5 out of 15).
- 13 out of the 15 are primarily financed through university funding.
- They offer a range of services and products from professional development & training, to various support actions and specific technological expertise, knowledge sharing & community platforms, support on institutional strategy, policy and quality assurance, and advice on innovation.
- 10 out of the 15 respondents indicate their CTL as having high to transformative impact on the teaching and learning at their institution.
- CTL’s biggest challenges lay in the broad organisational focus and scope they are required to maintain, the lack of visibility and awareness of services with their institutional staff and faculty and the general prioritisation of research over teaching duties by faculty.
- Training sessions are the foremost way through which CTLs engage with faculties or departments, followed by joint projects, regular meetings and other ways.
A full in-depth report on the results will be developed over the next months. Further follow-up steps on the survey results and future member surveys will be defined by the CTL SIG.
Interested in CTLs and want to contribute your own experiences?
We are also organizing a free online event “Positioning your Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) for the future” on 24 September 2026 14.00-15.00 CEST, where we will dive into the topic of CTLs in more detail, with case studies and discussions from our SIG members.
Consider joining our CTL SIG. (members only)
Kamakshi Rajagopal, Strategic Development Manager in Media and Learning Association
