Lincoln wins prestigious teaching excellence award

The University of Lincoln has received a prestigious national award celebrating teaching excellence in Higher Education.

Lincoln is one of only 15 institutions in the UK to receive the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) in 2019.
Awarded by Advance HE – the professional body that promotes excellence in Higher Education – the awards showcase the outstanding impact of individuals and teams who teach or support learning in UK universities, recognising their success and providing a platform to share the learning from their practice.

The CATE was awarded to the University of Lincoln’s Science Foundation Year teaching team, who under the directorship of Kerry Blagden, lead an initiative to widen access to Higher Education. The Science Foundation Year at Lincoln is designed to ensure that a diverse student population not only participate in Higher Education, but thrive.

It provides an alternative route for students who do not meet the standard entry requirements, have taken a break from education or have non-traditional qualifications. It constitutes a fully integrated ‘year zero’ for 37 different degree programmes across the Schools of Mathematics and Physics, Chemistry, Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Engineering at Lincoln.

Science Foundation Year students also experience an enhanced level of personal tutoring, and pastoral and academic support to encourage their confident transition into degree level education.

Dr Ellie Davison, Director of Teaching and Learning for the Foundation Studies Centre at the University of Lincoln, said: “We are delighted to receive this award which recognises the impact that high quality teaching and enhanced student support can have on ensuring students from all backgrounds contribute to the Higher Education community. We are grateful for the invaluable input from the Schools within the College of Science, the encouragement from the University leadership team and the enthusiasm of the University support services in championing Science Foundation Year students at the start of their journey.

“Our team continues to expand in a range of directions, including collaborating with the University of Nottingham and Lincoln Medical School to welcome an additional cohort of widening participation students to Lincoln, studying Medicine with a foundation year, from September 2019.”

Professor Liz Mossop, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Student Development and Engagement at Lincoln, added: “This is a wonderful achievement for the Science Foundation Year team. In just 18 months they have designed and delivered exceptional teaching and academic and pastoral guidance to a dramatically expanding cohort. The team’s collaborative approach is now impacting on an array of policy, practice and provision both within and beyond the University of Lincoln, with students from all backgrounds benefitting from their work.”

The winning team will attend a special awards ceremony on Wednesday 16th October in Manchester to collect the accolade.

Dr Ben Calvert, Chair of the 2019 Teaching Excellence Awards Advisory Panel, said: “These awards really are the pinnacle of reward and recognition in teaching and learning.

“The 2019 winners are rightly proud of their achievements and I am sure they will continue to share their knowledge as individuals and teams so that their institutions, colleagues and the wider Higher Education sector can benefit from their expertise.”

For more information on the awards and the winning teams, visit the Advance HE website.