Silver award for University teaching

The University of Wolverhampton has been awarded a Silver award as part of a National scheme introduced by the Government to recognise excellence in teaching and learning.

The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), introduced by the Department for Education and overseen by the Office for Students, assesses providers undergraduate teaching based against criteria that cover the areas of teaching quality, learning environment and student outcomes.

The University of Wolverhampton received a Silver award, meaning based on the evidence available, the TEF Panel judged that the University delivers provision that is of high quality, and consistently exceeds the rigorous national quality requirements for UK Higher Education and found that most students achieve excellent outcomes.

In particular the panel found that the University displayed evidence of:

• commitment to enhance the student learning experience through development of effective learning resources and teaching practice
• the involvement of employers in the development and review of all programmes
• mental health provision and support systems that facilitate student guidance and underpin continuation
• the embedding of the Enterprise and Employability Award scheme within academic programmes
• the Enterprise and Employability strategy to support student start-ups
• the working partnership with the Students’ Union.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, Professor Geoff Layer, said: “We’re really proud to have been awarded a TEF Silver award and it is testament to the hard work of so many of our staff

“This demonstrates the continuous improvement of the University and that we are very much moving in the right direction.

“The first pillar of our strategic plan is putting students first and what the assessment has recognised is that we are delivering excellent teaching and learning to them.

“It highlights that our standards and student satisfaction are good and the employability of our students is very high. These measures, alongside the professional accreditation of our courses, all add up to a great higher education experience.

“We are in the middle of an unprecedented £250m investment programme which will improve the student experience further through new state-of-the-art facilities, industry-focused course provision, investment in our research and boosting the regional economy by bridging the skills gap – creating jobs.

 “Ultimately students at the University of Wolverhampton are happier than they’ve been before, there are more of them and they’re doing better than ever, with 96 per cent of them going into employment or further study after graduation.”

Institutions have to go through a rigorous application process and are then awarded gold, silver, bronze or a provisional award. Awards can be held for up to three years.