We’re overflowing with pride today at Essex following the news that we’ve been awarded the highest rating of Gold in the recent Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2017).
Gold means Essex delivers an excellent educational experience and excellent outcomes for students. The Government introduced the TEF – Teaching Excellence Framework – to recognise and reward excellent learning and teaching, and ensure that prospective students can make informed decisions when choosing a university. Madeleine Atkins, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England has said: “The TEF measures the things that students themselves say they care about: high-quality, engaged teaching and a supportive, stimulating learning environment which equips them with the knowledge and skills they need to achieve their potential, and then to progress to a good job or further study”. Based on the evidence available, the TEF Panel judged that the University of Essex delivers consistently outstanding teaching, learning and outcomes for its students. It is of the highest quality found in the UK. This was assessed on a variety of aspects, but some particular highlights in our feedback recognised our major investment in employability and creating opportunities for our students, our tailored teaching being suited to individual student needs, and our highly successful peer mentoring team and student support. The TEF panel stated that at Essex students from all backgrounds achieve outstanding outcomes with regards to continuation and progression to highly skilled employment or further study.
At Essex, we are always proud of our rankings and credentials…
And who wouldn’t be? They are pretty impressive, even if we do say so ourselves: Top 20 in the UK for research excellence (REF 2014), and now a Gold rating for teaching excellence (TEF 2017), as well as Top 10 for student satisfaction (English mainstream universities) for the fourth year in a row (NSS 2016). But we don’t stop there. We’re never satisfied with the status quo – we don’t just learn ‘how’, we challenge ‘why’. We are a genuinely colourful and vibrant global community who collectively strive to explore, question, and create powerful ideas.