The University of York has been shortlisted for the joint highest number of Times Higher Education (THE) awards in the country, it was announced yesterday, but was not nominated to reclaim the University of the Year award.
York was named University of the Year at the THE awards ceremony at Grosvenor House in London last November.
This year’s shortlist puts York in the running for three awards which “celebrate the best of the sector”: Outstanding Engineering Research Team of the Year, Entrepreneurial University of the Year, and the Outstanding Support for Students award.
A rigorous selection process headed by Professor Trevor Sheldon, Deputy Vice Chancellor, sees the best projects from York put forward for each relevant category.
University Press Officer David Garner said the University had not entered itself into the University of the Year category again because “the convention is that the previous year’s winner does not make submission in this category.”
However, the University has already had glowing success in the award’s seventh year, having been shortlisted in three other categories.
The Open Door Team – a welfare initiative still in its youth – has been approached by “six or seven other Universities” for its innovative approach to student welfare, Steve Page, Manager of Student Support Services, told Vision following its shortlist success.
“I’m extremely pleased. It’s not easy to get considered for these kinds of awards,” Page said following yesterday’s announcement that they had been singled out for the Outstanding Support for Students Award.
The accolade for Outstanding Engineering Research Team will be contested for the University by Professor Jim Austin’s group in the Computer Science department. Austin, whose research background is in neuroscience, heads the Advanced Computers Architecture Group.
Also notable is York’s nomination for Entrepreneurial University of the Year. The University has recently begun supporting business start-ups on Hes East.
In an interview with Vision last year, former York students and hopeful social media moguls Matt Freckleton and Chris Etheridge said that York was “the best place to set up a new business,” after they gained support for their young business, Yatterbox, on the Hes East campus.
The Centre of Excellence for the Teaching and Learning of Enterprise (CETLE) business centre opened last February at the Ron Cooke Hub on Hes East, complete with prospective investment and office space for budding student entrepreneurs.
The awards will be held later this year.