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Now in their ninth year, the Times Higher Education Awards (THE Awards) are a highlight of the academic calendar and a glittering celebration of the best of the sector.
The awards represent a unique and high-profile opportunity to celebrate the excellence and amazing achievements of UK higher education institutions, and reaffirm our commitment to the two core pursuits of higher education: teaching and research.
Excellence and Innovation in the Arts:
University of Derby
In 2012, the University of Derby launched the “Learning Theatre”, a groundbreaking new model for nurturing the next generation of theatre-makers.
Based at Derby Theatre, a well-established regional venue acquired by the university in 2009, it represents a unique creative symbiosis between the theatre itself, the university and the surrounding city, combining a strong commitment to the local community with the cultural imperative to invest in emerging talent.
The project is strongly supported by Arts Council England, whose incoming chairman, Sir Peter Bazalgette, singled it out in his inaugural speech as “really innovative” and “a novel and enterprising idea” to give an ailing theatre “a new lease of life, not only as a live venue but also as a training centre”.
Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year:
University of Central Lancashire
With its Digital Shift project, the University of Central Lancashire set about transforming the online learning experience of its student body with an ambitious programme of cultural change.
The university produced a set of minimum standards for integrating pedagogy and technology, which had to be met by all 350 first-year core modules. These included uploading course information; ensuring that tutors’ reading lists and key lectures were available online; allowing remote submission of assignments; and giving students the option to offer digital feedback about courses.
The project, which was introduced in 2011-12, resulted in a 136 per cent increase in electronic coursework submissions and a 312 per cent increase in the number of feedback reports submitted online.
Research Project of the Year:
University of Leicester
The University of Leicester’s key role in the high-profile discovery of the remains of Richard III under a car park has been singled out as research project of the year.
In collaboration with the Richard III Society, Leicester academics identified the likely resting place of the last Plantagenet king in the grounds of a former priory and then successfully excavated the site to find human remains. These were identified as the king’s using a variety of techniques, including a novel method of DNA analysis, carbon dating and comparison of the remains with historical accounts of Richard’s scoliosis and battle wounds.
The project, which began in 2011, involved a multidisciplinary team that included geneticists, archaeologists, engineers, Latinists, osteologists, historians, English scholars, forensic pathologists and genealogists.
It attracted worldwide attention when the positive identification was announced in February this year, generating more than 1,500 news articles. The find’s impact on the regional economy, through tourism and other activity, has been estimated by Leicester Chamber of Commerce to amount to £140 million a year.
Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development:
Welsh Crucible
The Welsh Crucible’s “game-changing” efforts to develop future research leaders for Wales have been recognised by the judges of this category.
The initiative provides interdisciplinary researchers with a “collision space” where they can interact and make new connections. It is run by the St David’s Day Group – Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff University, Swansea University and the University of South Wales – and is supported by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.
Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative:
University of Edinburgh
In considering entries for this award, the judges were on the lookout for new ways of working with employers backed by evidence of high-quality, flexible provision that meets employer and employee needs. Selecting the University of Edinburgh as the winner, the judges noted that its submission at once met these criteria while also being well received by the people it sought to benefit.
Widening Participation or Outreach Initiative of the Year:
London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London
In 2007, the government-commissioned Corston report highlighted the plight of vulnerable women in the criminal justice system and made recommendations for a more female-focused approach towards their rehabilitation. This inspired the London College of Fashion at the University of the Arts London to work with female prisoners and to offer them access to new skills and opportunities.
Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community:
University of Manchester
As one of the largest universities in the UK, Manchester is a huge employer in the North West, but it is also close to some of the most deprived parts of the region. With this in mind, and a commitment to social responsibility, the university set out to use its influence to change the lives of local people for the better. The Works project, which was developed by the institution’s human resources directorate, offers jobseekers in areas neighbouring the university, such as Moss Side and Hulme, help to improve their skills and, crucially, employment opportunities. This second goal has been achieved through a partnership with other large local employers, including Royal Mail, Barclays and Manchester Metropolitan University, that ensures that a number of jobs at the university and beyond are ring-fenced for local people.
The Lord Dearing Lifetime Achievement Award:
Roger Brown - Liverpool Hope University
Roger Brown has had a number of leading roles within higher education – from senior civil servant to vice-chancellor – but he describes himself above all as a “policy analyst”. Few people in this country have offered more informed and often unsparing analysis of changing government policy on funding, quality assurance and widening participation, but he has always combined incisive criticism with a willingness to set out alternatives.
Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development:
University of Greenwich
From a shortlist full of “heavyweights” in the field, the judges recognised the remarkable achievement of the University of Greenwich in “attaining and sustaining a standard that not just matches best practice elsewhere but introduces its own innovations”.
Its winning entry was the result of three years of hard work that helped the institution to move from “laggard to leader” in sustainable development by rising 102 places in the People and Planet Green League to top the rankings in 2012.
Outstanding Contribution to Innovation and Technology:
Aberystwyth University
The winning combination of excellence in “challenge-led” and interdisciplinary research and a strong entrepreneurial culture is behind the successful plant-breeding programme at the Institute of Biological Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University.
The researchers being honoured with this year’s award developed new strains of grasses that can make beef, lamb and dairy farming more productive and more environmentally friendly.
Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers:
Queen's University Belfast
Early career researchers are increasingly encouraged to develop skills that help them to apply their work outside academia. A new postgraduate certificate in entrepreneurship at Queen’s University Belfast has been so successful at this that 400 universities worldwide are adopting it.
Created in 2011, the certificate is compulsory for all early career researchers at Queen’s. More than 5,000 students have completed the course, which includes a chance to apply research in an external organisation and a five-day intensive programme involving drama, music, social media and pitching ideas.
Outstanding Support for Students:
University of Essex
The University of Essex’s Frontrunners initiative is a bold, innovative approach to improving campus life that has empowered students to tackle problems themselves.
Once staff had identified specific projects, students were invited to apply for part-time paid work placements to lead them. More than 200 students were involved in 176 projects across almost every academic and professional department in 2011-12. They addressed particular problems faced by their peers, providing their own insights into campus issues while developing problem-solving and project management skills required by future employers.
International Collaboration of the Year:
University College London
The judges noted that there were a number of strong entries in this category, but an initiative by University College London to test a new treatment for tuberculosis in Africa “stood out for the quality of its research and the international collaboration that it entailed”.
Most Innovative Teacher of the Year:
Simon Kemp - University of Southampton
Simon Kemp’s imaginative approach to teaching, particularly by putting students in high-pressure, real-life business situations, hugely impressed our judges.
Moving away from traditional classroom-based lessons on environmental management courses, the principal teaching fellow in engineering and the environment asked students to conduct professional audits for several major organisations in Southampton, including Southampton General Hospital, Skandia Insurance and West Quay Shopping Centre, under his supervision.
Business School of the Year:
Brunel Business School, Brunel University
Brunel Business School described 2011-12 as a “watershed” year during which many of its plans and initiatives came to fruition, and the judges agreed that its winning submission showed “ambition, commitment and impact”. During the year it moved into a new £28 million purpose-built building, and it shot up the rankings in the National Student Survey.
Entrepreneurial University of the Year:
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde was founded 200 years ago as a “place of useful learning”, and its modern leadership takes that purpose very seriously.
The university’s Enterprise Academy teaches entrepreneurial skills to its researchers while its Student Enterprise Challenge pairs interdisciplinary teams with entrepreneurs over two semesters – and two such teams have already successfully commercialised their ideas. Strathclyde has also launched a £3 million fund to support selected spin-off companies over their first three years.
University of the Year:
University of Huddersfield
The University of Huddersfield impressed the judges with a UK first in teaching excellence, the establishment of a new innovation centre, and continued commitment to being “a university that is at the heart of its home town”.
Huddersfield’s official vision is: “To be an inspiring, innovative university of international renown.”
The university created the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre in collaboration with conglomerate 3M to foster business partnerships leading to new research, technology transfer and entrepreneurial ideas.
Judges' comments:
The University of Huddersfield impressed the judges with a UK first in teaching excellence, the establishment of a new innovation centre, and continued commitment to being “a university that is at the heart of its home town”.
Huddersfield’s official vision is: “To be an inspiring, innovative university of international renown.”
The university created the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre in collaboration with conglomerate 3M to foster business partnerships leading to new research, technology transfer and entrepreneurial ideas.
The university’s quadrupling of international income since 2008 was this year recognised by a Queen’s Award for Enterprise – International Trade, and also a top 10 position in the 2012 International Student Barometer .
And as for inspiring, the university’s strategy for enhancing excellence in teaching and learning saw it set a bold target for 100 per cent of academic staff to achieve fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. Huddersfield rose to the challenge – in 2012, it became the first and only university in the UK to attain that goal, described as a “remarkable achievement” by the head of the HEA.
John Gill, Times Higher Education editor, said: “Huddersfield shone through in the toughest of categories on the strength of an exceptional year.”
The university’s achievements, he continued, “were backed up by impressive figures for both student satisfaction and employability, and a clear sense that Huddersfield is a university that is at the heart of its home town, as well as making a very real contribution to the wider region, the higher education sector, and country as a whole”.
Most Improved Student Experience:
University of Stirling
Between October 2012 and June 2013, market research company YouthSight asked respondents to rate their university on 21 variables covering academic reputation, teaching, social life and facilities.
The results were then compared with a poll conducted in 2011-12, and the winner – the University of Stirling – is the institution that has achieved the biggest rise in its ranking position and the greatest overall increase in the satisfaction level of its students
Times Higher Education Awards http://www.the-awards.co.uk
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