Knowing me,knowing you: UK and Japanese academic developer identities at two research-intensive institutions

In 2004, Ray Land produced extensive literature on the 12 orientations of academic developers. These orientations provided academic developers with a useful tool through which they have been able to better articulate their roles and their place in academia. We have used the orientations model to establish, compare, and contrast the identity of sixteen academic developers from the UK and from Japan. The findings reveal that research is a key orientation recognised by both groups, although is expressed differently by academic developers from the two countries. The political strategist orientation was considered important amongst managers irrespective of their cultural backgrounds.