Taking on a vital social mission – and excelling in delivering on that goal – ensured that the University of Strathclyde was the big winner at the Times Higher Education Awards 2019.
Judges who handed the Glasgow institution the coveted University of the Year title said that it had returned to its founding vision as the “place of useful learning” and “set itself the task of reviving Scotland’s traditional industrial base with a scale of ambition that has multiplied rapidly over the past decade”.
The award honours Strathclyde’s success in creating a series of collaborative research centres that share expertise and equipment with industry and developing Scotland’s first innovation district, as well as its influence on policy – typified by the contribution of pollster Sir John Curtice.
Strathclyde also won the Widening Participation or Outreach Initiative of the Year category for its Breaking Barriers initiative, which gives young people with learning disabilities access to education and work experience opportunities.
The awards were presented at a ceremony hosted by the comedian Julian Clary at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. They recognise UK universities and their staff for exceptional teaching, research, student support, entrepreneurship, collaborations and outreach.
John Gill, THE’s editor, said: “Our universities – every single one of them, in every corner of the UK – are packed with individuals and teams doing truly extraordinary things, things that transform lives and, in some cases, change our world.”
The shortlists for the awards were, he added, “full of fantastic examples” of this.
Loughborough University pulled off a hat-trick of wins, topping the Outstanding Entrepreneurial University, Excellence in Registry Services and Outstanding Marketing/Communications Team categories.
There was double success for the University of West London, which scooped the title for Outstanding Financial Performance and saw its Claude Littner Business School win the Business School of the Year prize.
The THE Lifetime Achievement Award went to Dame Athene Donald, professor of experimental physics at the University of Cambridge and master of Churchill College, Cambridge, for her “indefatigable and pioneering” efforts to push gender equality to the top of the science policy agenda.
chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com
Times Higher Education Awards 2019 Winners
University of the Year
University of Strathclyde
International Collaboration of the Year
University of Essex
Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development
University of Nottingham
Business School of the Year
Claude Littner Business School, University of West London
Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year
Swansea University
Widening Participation or Outreach Initiative of the Year
University of Strathclyde
Highly commended: De Montfort University
Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Birmingham City University
Highly commended: University of Dundee
Research Project of the Year: STEM
University of Portsmouth
Highly commended: University of Nottingham, in collaboration with UCL
Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year
Tong Sun, City, University of London
Highly commended: Nicky Milner, University of York
Most Innovative Teacher of the Year
Tom Delahunt, Canterbury Christ Church University
Highly commended: Sharon Tolaini-Sage, Norwich University of the Arts
Outstanding Support for Students
Newcastle University
Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community
University of Worcester
Outstanding Entrepreneurial University
Loughborough University
Outstanding Strategic Planning Team
Sheffield Hallam University
Excellence in Registry Services
Loughborough University
Knowledge Exchange/Transfer Initiative of the Year
Manchester Metropolitan University
Outstanding Financial Performance
University of West London
Outstanding Marketing/Communications Team
Loughborough University
Highly commended: University of Nottingham
Outstanding Estates Strategy
Harper Adams University
Outstanding Library Team
University of Kent
Outstanding Technician of the Year
Barbara Kunz, The Open University
Highly commended: Samantha McCormack, Bucks New University
THE DataPoints Merit Award
King’s College London
THE Lifetime Achievement Award
Dame Athene Donald, University of Cambridge
