Staff development in teaching is an important driver of efforts to further enhance learning and teaching (L&T) at European higher education institutions. Indeed, several previous European University Association activities and projects have recommended enhanced efforts to offer adequate (continued) professional development to higher education personnel with a role in student learning and motivate them to engage in it through adequate recognition for their teaching activity and the education mission of universities. This report, the first outcome of the European Union-funded STAFF-DEV project, is based on the results of a survey conducted in 2024, with over 160 responses collected from higher education institutions based in 40 countries across the European Higher Education Area. The report examines the national context in which staff development, i.e. opportunities for personnel involved in student learning to grow their professional competences and reflect on their role, conceptions and needs, takes place. Moreover, it explores the approaches and activities for staff development organised at HEIs and how staff development is connected with academic assessment and career progression. Higher education institutions across the EHEA increasingly pay attention to their learning and teaching strategies, while strategy implementation, capacity building and the need for increased inter-institutional cooperation are ongoing issues for discussion and peer learning. The majority of institutions already offer some form of courses for enhancing higher education teaching skills. The 'Staff Development for Learning and Teaching at European Universities' (STAFF-DEV) project aims to map and analyse how staff development is implemented at European HEIs, how it is embedded into institutional and national strategies for learning and teaching and academic assessment, and what HEIs and national- and system-level stakeholders could learn from each other in this regard. The project will contribute to a knowledge base on staff development, as well as capacity building in learning and teaching, benefitting HEIs at different stages of developing their support and strategic approaches on learning and teaching and academic assessment. [This publication has been developed in partnership with University College Cork (Ireland), Utrecht University (Netherlands), the University of Oslo (Norway) and Ruhr University Bochum (Germany).]