Sarah Sarfraz

Sarah is a Senior Lecturer Practitioner and Course Director specialising in digital marketing analytics and leadership apprenticeships. With 15+ years across higher education and industry Sarah designs Ofsted-aligned work-based curricula and researchs student–faculty partnerships and entrepreneurial universities’ role in scalability: bridging business strategy and pedagogical innovation for inclusive learning outcomes.

Email: [email protected]

Background

Sarah is a Senior Lecturer Practitioner and Course Director for Digital Marketer (Integrated) Degree Apprenticeship at Anglia Ruskin University, specialising in digital marketing analytics, leadership and change, and apprenticeship pedagogy. With over 15 years’ experience spanning higher education and industry, she designs and delivers Ofsted-aligned, work-based curricula and assessments that evidence Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours (KSBs) across Levels 4–7 and support learner progression through Gateway and End-Point Assessment (EPA).

Her teaching and academic leadership focus on digitally enabled, inclusive learning: building structured Canvas learning environments, strengthening formative feedback cycles, and supporting learners to develop confident evidence portfolios. She works closely with employers, skills coaches, and academic teams to co-create applied learning experiences such as live briefs, case-based tasks, and analytics activities, aligned with occupational standards and employability outcomes.

Sarah holds an MPhil in Educational Leadership & Improvement from the University of Cambridge which informs her evidence-informed approach to curriculum improvement and partnership-based pedagogy. She also contributes to the wider scholarly community as a manuscript peer reviewer for SAGE journals and has presented her MPhil research at an ARU learning and teaching conference (2025).

Spoken Languages

• Urdu/Hindi (native)
• Arabic (fair)

Research interests

• Apprenticeship pedagogy and work-based assessment
• Student-as-Partners in higher education
• Digital transformation in management education
• Entrepreneurial universities and industry engagement
• Inclusive and technology-enhanced learning design
• Organisational change and leadership development in professional practice contexts

Areas of expertise

• Degree apprenticeships (Levels 4–7): curriculum design, KSB/EPA alignment, Gateway readiness
• Digital marketing strategy, analytics, and performance measurement
• Leadership, change, and organisational capability development
• Inclusive pedagogy, learner engagement, and digital learning design (Canvas; blended/online)
• Work-based assessment design and authentic, employer-engaged learning
• Curriculum quality assurance and enhancement (apprenticeship compliance; progression tracking)
• Entrepreneurship, innovation, and applied strategy teaching

Areas of research supervision

• Undergraduate and postgraduate taught projects
• Practice-based and work-based research

Teaching

• Leadership in Practice
• Leadership and Change
• Data and Analytics for Digital Marketing
• Strategic Management
• Organisational Behaviour and HRM
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• Sustainability and Responsible Business
• Business Strategy & Change Management

Her teaching is practice-based and assessment-literate, integrating live briefs, authentic organisational evidence, and digitally scaffolded learning journeys via Canvas to strengthen engagement and learner confidence.

Qualifications

• MPhil, Educational Leadership & Improvement — University of Cambridge (Distinction; Best Thesis Award)
• MBA (Marketing & Strategy) — Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
• PGCert in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education

Memberships, editorial boards

• ALDinHE (Member) Association for Learning Development in Higher Education
• CMBE Certified Management & Business Educator
• Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Membership
• Manuscript Peer Reviewer, SAGE Journals (SAGE Publishing)
• Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (Advance HE)

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• Employer-engaged curriculum design and work-based assessment co-creation with apprenticeship stakeholders (tripartites, progress reviews, live briefs).
• Applied consultancy and industry engagement in digital strategy, analytics, and innovation to inform teaching and authentic assessment design.
• Learning technology-informed curriculum development and digital learning environment design (Canvas; e-portfolio evidence-building).

Selected recent publications

• Invisible Bridges and Institutional Asymmetries: A Global Bibliometric-Systematic Review of Entrepreneurial University Support for Business Scalability (working paper under review).
• Sarfraz, S. (2018). Pakwheels.com – The Next Challenge, Asian Journal of Management Cases.
• Sarfraz, S. (2017). A Tale of Mystery Shopping: Mausummery Perspective!, Asian Journal of Management Cases.
• Contributor, Essentials of Modern Marketing (Pakistan edition), Kotler Impact Inc. (2021–2022).

Recent presentations and conferences

Conference presentation: MPhil research on student–faculty pedagogical partnerships, ARU Pedagogic Research Conference, Cambridge (July 2025)

Media experience

Delivery of webinars, workshops and guest sessions for academic and practitioner audiences on leadership, digital transformation, and evidence-informed teaching practice