Academic Development (AD) as a fairly new field in South Africa has experienced a manifold degree of challenges. In spite of this, academic development practitioners have continued to make strides in providing professional development initiatives in higher education institutions. The main aim of this paper, therefore, is to provide a historic and current context of academic development practice by interrogating its strategic positioning within a higher education institution. In doing so, the paper sketches the context within which AD operates and provides a brief of professional development initiatives undertaken by AD practitioners in a particular university located in South Africa. The paper discusses challenges experienced by AD practitioners and their misconstrued identities as well as misconceptions about Academic Development (AD) field. The study recommends ways in which academic development practitioners can begin to position themselves within higher education institutions and central to these recommendations, is close working relationship with academic departments.

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