Going for TEF Gold

The  Teaching Excellence Framework assessments were announced in June 2018 and Solent was boosted from its initial Bronze rating up to a well-deserved Silver, putting us in company with our neighbours Bournemouth, Southampton and Winchester, as well as Manchester, Reading, Cardiff and UCL, among others. 

As a true measure of teaching excellence there has been some debate over how far the metrics chosen can accurately reflect the reality. What isn’t in doubt is that Solent puts the student experience at the heart of everything, and has been doing so for a long time. 

It also seems certain that the TEF and its metrics are here to stay. By working with them we’ve already seen our league table position improve enormously. What else might we achieve?

Gold, is the answer. Why not?

As Tansy Jessop, Professor of Research Informed Teaching, says, the new curriculum framework speaks volumes about how intentional we are about excellence in our teaching. The curriculum review that began before the summer and which will be going on for the next few years isn’t about tinkering with what we’ve got. Rather, its purpose is to make excellence systematic, to integrate it into all courses. 

Already that’s an ambitious project, but then again we’re an ambitious university, and there’s a lot of great teaching going on (you only need look back through this blog to see that!).

For Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Julie Hall aiming for TEF Gold, and achieving it, means embedding the good practice and making sure that when people – parents, students, industry partners – look at Solent, what they see is a place where teaching is fantastic and students achieve their potential.

The road to teaching excellence is paved with gold, and we’re on it.