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The University of Nottingham has been shortlisted for the title of University of Year in the prestigious 2011 Times Higher Education Awards — a title it previously won in 2006. This year’s shortlisting recognises the institution’s bold and innovative reputation both at home and across the world.
With close links to the community, a massive £90m investment in infrastructure and developments at home and on the international stage the University leads the way in social inclusion, research and business engagement, and student experience.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Greenaway, said: “Every year we endeavour to push the boundaries for our sector. With applications up by 7.6 per cent this year we are now the UK’s third most popular university. Our 40,000 students here in the UK, China and Malaysia enjoy exceptional facilities thanks to strong and effective financial management which guarantees sustained investment as higher education faces its most challenging time for a generation.”
September 2010 saw the opening of the £24m new home of the Nottingham University Samworth Academy (NUSA). One of the only University-sponsored academies in the country, NUSA is only a mile from the University — but in a constituency with the country’s joint-lowest progression rate to higher education. The University of Nottingham aims to change that.
The University made clear its commitment to local and national literary history by safeguarding the heritage of DH Lawrence. By committing £105,000 to Durban House — the DH Lawrence Visitors’ Centre in the author’s hometown of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire — we were able to secure its future as a key part of the nation’s cultural heritage.
The University of Nottingham also broke new ground when it announced a new framework for collaboration with the University of Birmingham. The partnership sees these two comprehensive large research-led universities working together for mutual success in a range of different areas, including research student experience, business engagement and internationalisation.
Nottingham was the only UK University to invest in a six-month presence at Shanghai Expo 2010, running an award-winning exhibition that attracted 1.1m visitors and led to more than 400 enquiries from businesses keen to work with our scientists and engineers. The exhibition highlighted our research in environmental sustainability and brought together thousands of business people, academics, government officials and other visitors in a series of 17 academic-led conferences.
The University has just celebrated the 10th anniversary of The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus — the first overseas campus established by a British university. It has been recognised by the Malaysian government as one of that nation’s elite providers of higher education.
The University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus has grown, from a standing start in 2004, to the verge of a new milestone: having 5,000 students enrolled. Nottingham was the first foreign university in the world to establish a campus in mainland China.
The success of our internationalisation strategy has yielded an invitation to open an unprecedented third overseas campus — in Shanghai.
This year saw the 1,000th student sign up for the Nottingham Advantage Award (NAA), which boosts employability and gives graduates an edge in a highly competitive job market. The NAA also won the ‘Graduate Development Preparation in Higher Education’ category at the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) awards.
Announcing the shortlist today the organisers of the Times Higher Education Awards said inclusion in the shortlist was a significant achievement given the quality and number of this year’s entries.
The University has also been shortlisted in two other categories: Support for Early Career Researchers and Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development.
The University of Nottingham was named ‘Entrepreneurial University of the Year’ at the Times Higher Education Awards in 2008. The judges praised the ‘breadth and depth’ of its entrepreneurial activity and said the University was ‘committed to nurturing the most enterprising and globally-minded graduates in British higher education.’
The full shortlist can be found at: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=417298&c=1
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings. It was named ‘Europe’s greenest university’ in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking, a league table of the world’s most environmentally-friendly higher education institutions, which ranked Nottingham second in the world overall.
The University is committed to providing a truly international education for its 40,000 students, producing world-leading research and benefiting the communities around its campuses in the UK and Asia.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, with almost 60 per cent of all research defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. Research Fortnight analysis of RAE 2008 ranked the University 7th in the UK by research power.
The University’s vision is to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health.
More news from the University at:
www.nottingham.ac.uk/news