West of England IoT Partner – University Centre Weston Earns Coveted Gold in 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework

28 September 2023

It’s official, the West of England’s Institute of Technology’s education provider, the University Centre Weston (UCW) is among the best places to study at university level in the UK, according to the results of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) published on September 28th 2023. 

The TEF panel considered the overall rating for UCW to be Gold, placing it among the country’s best university and college higher education providers. This recognition by the TEF Panel reflects UCW’s unwavering dedication to providing outstanding education to a diverse student body and places it within the top 20% in the UK and one of only four colleges nationally to achieve the status. 

The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) is a national scheme run by the Office for Students (OfS) that aims to encourage higher education providers to improve and deliver excellence in the areas that students care about the most: teaching, learning and achieving positive outcomes from their studies. 

The TEF does this by assessing and rating universities and colleges for excellence above a set of minimum requirements for quality and standards. 

Providers that take part in the TEF receive an overall rating as well as two underpinning ratings – one for the student experience and one for student outcomes. 

The ratings reflect the extent to which a provider delivers an excellent experience and outcomes for its mix of undergraduate students and across the range of its undergraduate courses and subjects. 

Hundreds of higher education institutions in England, Wales and Scotland have had their teaching quality, learning environment, and student outcome data assessed by the TEF Panel and rated as either Gold, Silver, Bronze or Requires Improvement. 

The TEF Panel judged that UCW delivers consistently outstanding teaching, learning and outcomes for its students, which is of the highest quality found in Britain. 

In addition to praise for the student experience, UCW was praised for its supportive learning environment, offering students access to a wide range of high-quality academic support tailored to their needs. The institution has also demonstrated a commitment to embedding employability and entrepreneurship into its course content, preparing students for successful futures. 

UCW’s dedication to research, innovation, scholarship, professional practice, and employer engagement further enhances the academic experience, contributing to the institution’s outstanding standing in the TEF. 

This Gold rating in the 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework solidifies UCW’s status as a leading institution committed to excellence in higher education.