Professional training opportunities are crucial for university academics to expand their competencies and implement high quality educational practices. Within these opportunities, academics differ in the extent to which they engage in learning and their resulting learning gains. A theoretical explanation for these differences involves their motivations in the form of achievement goals. As such, in the current study we investigated the effects of academics’ achievement goals on their learning engagement and learning gains in a professional training course. Forty-eight university academics completed assessments of achievement goals prior to course participation, their learning engagement throughout the course (three short assessments measuring: effort, learning intensity, risk-taking, elaboration, implementation, and persistence), and their learning gains after the course. Latent growth curve modeling revealed a significant influence of achievement goals on the overall levels of learning engagement. Specifically, learning approach goals led to more functional learning engagement while work avoidance goals led to less functional learning engagement. Further analyses attested that academics’ achievement goals affected the amount they learned, mediated by their learning engagement. These findings highlight the importance of academics’ achievement goals being supported that to ensure quality learning experiences.