The Herald Higher Education Awards were back for a sixth year to recognise outstanding higher education institutions in Scotland. With a broad spectrum of categories, the awards touched on all key aspects of higher education and help to build future excellence by facilitating the sharing of good practice.
The University of Glasgow has scooped the top prize in this year’s awards. as the university, was named Higher Education Institution of the Year.
The university’s Lighthouse Lab, part of the nation’s fightback against Covid-19, also won the Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community award. It also collected the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion award, for providing vital assistance to those looking to gain a foothold in life sciences at the start of their careers. Judges were impressed by the critical support role the university took on during the pandemic, particularly its efforts to boost employment across the city at a time of great uncertainty.
The awards, held online due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19, saw institutions up and the down the country recognised for their work to support education during a period of unprecedented turmoil.
City of Glasgow College won Research Project of the Year for its Oxygen Depletion in Enclosed Spaces and the University of Strathclyde collected the Outstanding Business Engagement in Universities Award for its Covid-19 modelling for NHS Lanarkshire project
The University of Strathclyde picked up the PR/Marketing Campaign of the Year award for 1796 Minutes To Give.
Also celebrating is the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, which took the Supporting Student Wellbeing prize.
Donald Martin, editor of The Herald and Herald on Sunday, who chaired the judging panel, said:
“The pandemic and lockdown restrictions have meant this has been an incredibly difficult year for everyone involved in education. But it has also provided opportunities for innovation, creativity, and inspiration.
“In this, our sixth year, we received around 100 entries. Even more impressive was the quality of entry across all categories.
“Choosing that shortlist and the winners has not been easy and I would like to give special thanks to our amazing judges for the time they took diligently assessing each of the entries and ensuring that this was a fair and robust process.”
A full list of awards can be seen below:
