Local University Academic Development Team wins prestigious Advance HE award

Staff at Wrexham Glyndwr are celebrating achieving a prestigious national award which recognises teaching excellence.

Glyndwr’s Academic Development Team (ADT) of Prof Claire Taylor, Alicia Owen, Dr Sue Horder, Dr Neil Pickles, Colin Heron and Dr Caroline Hughes has scooped Advance HE’s 2021 Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE). The University is just one of 14 institutions to be recognised with the CATE award this year, and the win is made even more impressive by the fact that Glyndwr’s ADT was established just a little less than five years ago.

This latest success comes within weeks of Glyndwr achieving top in Wales for teaching, assessment and feedback, and learning opportunities and a UK top six placing for student satisfaction with teaching in the National Student Survey, and being ranked 15th in the Complete University Guide 2022 for student satisfaction with teaching quality.

Congratulating all involved with the ADT, Professor Claire Taylor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Wrexham Glyndwr University, said: “This award recognises not only the achievements of the ADT but the incredible work carried out by our network of ADT Associates across a number of learning and teaching enhancement projects.

“Our distributed approach to academic development has attracted much interest across the higher education sector and has definitely contributed to moving forwards our innovative programme of learning and teaching developments such as ALF, the Active Learning Framework.

“Thank you to everyone who is involved in delivering the best possible learning opportunities for our students – working together we have made fantastic progress over recent years and have much to build on going forwards.”

Glyndwr’s ADT was formed to ‘drive learning and teaching enhancement work’ across the University, it consists of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the Digital Learning Manager and the two Associate Deans for Academic Affairs and Student Engagement from each Faculty.

It co-ordinates learning and teaching enhancement projects through an extended network of volunteer Academic Development Team Associates.

There are currently over 60 Associates from across the University community (academic and professional services staff, and students), all engaged with the ADT in driving learning and teaching transformation.

Announcing the award, Alison Johns, Chief Executive of Advance HE, said: “I am delighted to congratulate the 2021 NTFS and CATE awardees on their achievements.

“It’s also very gratifying to see the quality of teamwork represented this year – the CATE awards really have become part of the sector landscape.

“Teamwork has been especially important in the past year with the challenges for teaching and learning as a result of social distancing and in the autumn we will publish case studies highlighting this excellent collaborative effort.

“I am sure that institutions will value these examples as we start to return to the best of in-person teaching complemented by excellent online delivery.

“Well done to each and every awardee on this outstanding achievement.”

Top pic: The Academic Development team – Professor Claire Taylor, Alicia Owen, Dr Sue Horder, Dr Neil Pickles, Colin Heron and Dr Caroline Hughes.