The winner will be a member of University staff who, in their capacity of Personal Tutor, is approachable, personable and always has a spare minute to talk to you. The winner will:
- Be approachable by being regularly and easily available to students;
- Invest time and effort e.g. providing detailed references or assistance in academic or non-academic matters;
- Take the time to make you feel valued as a human being e.g. attends social or extra-curricular events to build up a strong rapport with their students;
- Go beyond the requirements of their Personal Tutor role to help you progress as a student and as a person;
- Help in crisis e.g. if a student is thinking of dropping out gives good advice.
The winner will be a member of University staff who, in any non-Personal Tutor role, is approachable, personable and always has a spare minute to talk to you. This award is open to all – pastoral, academic, and wider support staff are all eligible. The winner will:
- Be approachable by being regularly and easily available to students;
- Invest time and effort e.g. providing detailed advice or strong signposting to other services, helping you to get to the right person;
- Take the time to make you feel valued as a human being e.g. attends social or extra-curricular events to build up a strong rapport with their students;
- Go beyond the requirements of their technical, administrative, or academic role to help you progress as a student and as a person;
- Help in crisis e.g. if a student is thinking of dropping out gives good advice.
The member of staff that goes out of their way to support students by giving exceptional employability advice and support, through modules designed around employability or in a pastoral role. The winner will:
- Encourage activity beyond the classroom i.e. volunteering, sport, Exeter Award, conferences, trips, and provides support to allow students to better understand the relevance of extra-curricular activity with the wider employability agenda and needs of prospective employers
- Firmly embed employability in the degree programme alongside curriculum design and assessment; including employer input in the design and reviewing of related learning activity and materials
- Be committed to running effective Personal Development Programmes (PDPs) through the personal tutor system to facilitate the discussion and development of career plans
- Encourage work placements and other work-based learning opportunities and provides guidance on how to secure these opportunities
- Encourage students to go on the study abroad scheme or ERASMUS work placement scheme
- Share their good practice with colleagues in their discipline, college and across the University
- Encourage the use of the wide range of services available from central support services
- Provide both long and short term advice. Promotes and encourages students to attend the mandatory career and employability sessions delivered in all disciplines
The winner will use creative methods, and/or IT and/or E-learning to make their teaching innovative and different. Examples could include any of the following:
- Delivering a lecture or seminar in a format that you have not experienced before
- Use of cutting-edge technology or E-learning e.g. touchpad controls to make lectures interactive
- Making students part of research
- Unorthodox assessment, which both challenges students and invites you to think about problems in new ways
- Involving students in delivery of teaching or encouraging them to take ownership of their learning experience
The academic who is delivering the most helpful, constructive, and innovative feedback on students’ assessment. The winner will:
- Provide detailed feedback within three weeks of assessment submission
- Offer formative assessment to help students improve before they tackle summative work
- Offer, where possible, more than one way of getting feedback such as advice surgeries and one-to-one appointments
- Give up their time to give detailed, individual feedback
An award for the lecturer who excels in all areas. Their teaching should lead to the highest quality academic experience, engaging students in their learning and encouraging a passion for the subject. The winner will be:
- A passionate orator
- Sensitive to student needs
- A teacher who makes their research relevant and interesting to their students
- Supportive, organised and willing to devote his or her time to students
- A lecturer who goes above and beyond their regular duties by participating in extracurricular events
- Someone whose lectures leave the student feeling interested and inspired
The PhD student who teaches in the most interesting, effective, and engaging way. The winner will be:
- A passionate orator
- Sensitive to students’ needs
- A teacher who makes their research relevant and interesting to their students
- Supportive, organised and willing to devote his or her time to students
- A GTA who goes above and beyond their regular duties by participating in extracurricular events
- Someone whose lectures leave the student feeling interested and inspired
The lecturer who makes the best use of his or her research in teaching, either through incorporating their ongoing research into their teaching or providing students with opportunities to engage actively with cutting-edge work.
The winner will:
- Teach by making their research accessible to a wider audience
- Give regular updates on the progress of their research and make students feel a part of the research process
- Encourage students to follow in their footsteps and become researchers
- Teach students the latest thinking in their subject
- Where possible, use students as active participants in research
An award for the supervisor who does the most to encourage exceptional dissertations. There will be two winners for this category, one for undergraduate students and one for PGR students.
The winner will be:
- Attentive to detail and prompt with feedback
- Capable of using their experiences as a researcher to benefit their students
- Willing to devote lots of time and energy to their students
- An expert in their field who can deploy a wealth of knowledge to support dissertation writing or poster production
- Willing to provide pastoral, career, and personal support
An award for the supervisor who does the most to encourage exceptional Masters-level dissertations.
The winner will be:
- Attentive to detail and prompt with feedback
- Capable of using their experiences as a researcher to benefit their students
- Willing to devote lots of time and energy to their students
- An expert in their field who can deploy a wealth of knowledge to support dissertation writing or other forms of research display and content
- Willing to provide pastoral, career, and personal support
An award for the supervisor who does the most to encourage exceptional dissertations. There will be two winners for this category, one for undergraduate students and one for PGR students.
The winner will be:
- Attentive to detail and prompt with feedback
- Capable of using their experiences as a researcher to benefit their students
- Willing to devote lots of time and energy to their students
- An expert in their field who can deploy a wealth of knowledge to support thesis writing or other forms of research display and content
- Willing to provide pastoral, career, and personal support
The subject with the best research community will encourage engagement with research from all its students, supporting and promoting research activities within the department. The winner will:
- Foster a community that promotes the importance of research, allowing and encouraging access and involvement from all students
- Support and promote varied and numerous reading groups, lecture series and conferences within the department
- Provide good support and resources for its research students
- Show an awareness of the importance of research interaction between staff and students
- Encouraging interplay between research clusters
An award for the subject that gives the best experience to students. The winner of the best subject award will go above and beyond, treat students as individuals, value feedback and have a strong staff team. The winner will:
- Go above and beyond the expectations of its students
- Treat students as individuals rather than numbers
- Act on student feedback and strive to capture it, informally and formally
- Be well organised
- Run effective SSLC’s and elect reps on time
- Have a strong staff team that communicates well with the student body
- Create a strong rapport between students and staff
- Feature regularly in the other categories