September 5, 2017

University of Wollongong shortlisted for international higher education award

Global reputation for excellence in teaching and learning reinforced.

The University of Wollongong’s (UOW) reputation as a leader in teaching and learning and particular strength in peer learning has been reinforced after being acknowledged as a finalist at the Global Teaching Excellence Awards (GTEA) 2017 gala event in London overnight (4 September).

UOW was the sole university in NSW and one of five Australian universities to be shortlisted for the accolade. The University was identified among 27 institutions from leading universities from Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

The Global Teaching Excellence Awards (GTEA) is an initiative of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), an independent UK-based body which champions teaching excellence, in partnership with Times Higher Education.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Joe Chicharo welcomed the recognition for UOW’s teaching and learning standards amidst a competitive field of international finalists.

“We place a great deal of emphasis on the student experience we offer at UOW and a key aspect of this is ensuring our teaching and learning is consistently meeting the high quality of tertiary education our students deserve.

“UOW prides itself on delivering real-world courses which help develop students for workplace-readiness, empowering them to conduct innovative research and the introduction of new courses relevant to emerging industries and global employability.

“Our strength in teaching and learning is underpinned by the national Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT), which has consistently placed UOW among the top three Australian universities for overall performance, Professor Chicharo said.

In 2017 UOW is ranked Number 1 nationally for Teacher Education, Engineering and Communications; Number 1 in NSW/ACT for overall satisfaction, skills, learning resources, learner engagement and teaching quality. UOW’s long-standing reputation for student satisfaction has been maintained with the University recently achieving top ranking for student experience at a public university in Australia in the 2018 Good Universities Guide.

In addition to receiving a five star rating for student retention and staff qualifications in the Guide, UOW was the only publicly-funded university to achieve a clean five star sweep of all student experience measures: overall experience, skills development, student support, teaching quality, learning resources and learner engagement.

Finalists for GTEA 2017 were selected against three key criteria: Excellence in the Leadership of Teaching and Learning, Excellence in Teaching, and Excellence in Student Support.

About the Global Teaching Award:

The Global Teaching Excellence Award (GTEA) is the first global award to celebrate and reward institutional commitment to the pursuit of teaching excellence in higher education and is open to all public and private sector universities and other providers of higher education.

Judging of the award involves a rigorous two-stage process. External peer reviewers initially assess each institutional application in relation to three ‘domains of excellence’. The reviewers then generate an initial shortlist from which an independent judging panel of distinguished international educationalists from North America, Africa, Australia, Europe and East Asia select the finalists and overall winner of GTEA 2017.