The University of Strathclyde has been shortlisted for the prestigious Times Higher Education UK University of the Year Award.
Strathclyde is in the running for the award for a second time, having previously won the title in 2012. The University of the Year nomination recognises Strathclyde’s overall strategy in engaging with business, industry and government, investing in students and developing socially progressive policies.
Strathclyde Business School's innovative partnership with Enable Scotland, Breaking Barriers, is also shortlisted in the Widening Participation or Outreach Initiative category.
Breaking Barriers, which operates in collaboration with Scottish Power and Marriott Hotel, Glasgow, is a pioneering programme enabling young people with learning disabilities to attend university, achieve an accredited qualification and gain real work experience with two of Scotland’s largest employers.
As a socially progressive institution, Strathclyde is committed to inclusion and opening higher education to all. Unique to the UK, Breaking Barriers develops opportunities and takes positive action to address the low number of young people with learning disabilities attending university in Scotland. The programme, which won the Youth Employment Award at the 2018 Herald Diversity Awards and has now been shortlisted in this year’s Times Higher Education Awards, helps raise aspirations by providing equal access to university and giving our learners a full student experience in a world class institution.
The University is also in contention in two other categories: Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development and Outstanding Library Team.
The Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development shortlisting is for the Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Programme (STEP), run by the University’s Organisational and Staff Development Unit (OSDU).
The Library Team has been shortlisted for initiatives including running workshops for local schoolchildren, providing work placements for young people with autism and supporting students with learning difficulties taking part in Breaking Barriers.
The 2019 winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 28 November.
Times Higher Education editor John Gill said, "The THE Awards hold a place in the hearts of many in UK higher education and have now been a fixture in the calendar for well over a decade.
"This year we decided to incorporate the complementary strengths of our THE Leadership and Management Awards, so that the range of categories better reflects the reality of how universities operate today, and the interwoven nature of so much of what they do. This will be the biggest celebration of higher education that we have ever hosted.
“I am delighted to say that the ‘Oscars of higher education’ go from strength to strength. With 23 categories this year, we’re also showcasing more exceptional stories than ever before, and it’s a real honour for us to shine a spotlight on all those who have made it as far as these shortlists – their stories deserve much wider circulation.”
This year's nominations continue a long line of success for Strathclyde in the awards. In recent years, the University has won: Research Project of the Year (2011); UK University of the Year (2012); Entrepreneurial University of the Year (2013) and Business School of the Year (2016). In addition, Professor Sir John Curtice, of Strathclyde’s School of Government & Public Policy, received the Lord Dearing Lifetime Achievement Award at the Times Higher Awards in 2017.
To find out more about Strathclyde's achievements in the last year, please click here. To find out more about Breaking Barriers, please click here