The purpose of Guidelines to Good Practices (GGP): Academic Staff is to assist Higher Education Providers (HEPs) in developing their own policies, processes and procedures with respect to the recruitment, management, development and professional services of academic staff. Academic staff is listed as Area 5 in both the Code of Practice for Programme Accreditation (COPPA) and the Code of Practice for Institutional Audit (COPIA) of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). Whilst the overall objective of COPPA is to ensure that programmes of HEPs meet the prescribed set of standards and is in compliance with the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF), that of COPIA is to monitor and ensure the maintenance and enhancement of programmes that have been accredited.

Four sub-areas are covered within the GGP: Academic Staff and they are shown in Appendix 2. The sub-areas relate to recruitment, management, development and professional services pertaining to academic staff. Topics covered within each sub-area are as given below:

1. Recruitment - purpose, process, types of appointment, academic positions, and terms and conditions of service.
2. Management - roles and responsibilities, code of conduct, harassment at work, appraisal by peers and students, promotion, rewards, and disciplinary policies and procedures.
3. Development - upgrading of staff qualification, supervision of postgraduate students, mentoring and formative guidance of new academic staff, and professional development.
4. Professional Services - purpose, and guiding principles and policies.

Given the broad range of HEPs, the contents of this GGP are intended to serve as guidelines to facilitate the fulfilment of benchmarked standards as given in COPPA, where appropriate to the HEPs and their development. As indicated in the Foreword, the guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive but relate to all types of HEPs and their specific requirements.