The team behind the Hartpury Sports Business Hub at Hartpury University and Hartpury College have won a prestigious Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE).
CATE recognises and rewards collaborative work that has had a demonstrable impact on teaching and learning and highlights the key role of teamwork in UK higher education. Advance HE announced the winners of the prestigious CATE and National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) today (Thursday 3 August).
The Hartpury Sports Business Hub was founded by the university following consultation with a vocational panel of industry experts, who all unanimously articulated the need for students to engage in real-world learning. As a result, the hub concept was validated and ultimately recognised as part of Hartpury’s wider business development remit. This has since provided a powerful platform to recruit local and national organisations to sponsor live industry projects carried out by higher education students at the Gloucestershire institution.
A trend across a number of this year’s CATE winners is the establishing of effective multidisciplinary teams, including students, to advance healthcare education. This is reflected in the increasing number of student-led projects, managed out of the Hartpury Sports Business Hub, that are focused on increasing physical activity.
Hartpury students recently took part in a transformational partnership with a local school to deliver PE lessons for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), while a collaboration with Active Gloucestershire and Move More saw the hub tasked with measuring and evaluating the impact of the two organisations’ groundbreaking Creating Active Schools (CAS) Framework.
Research is also integrated into the work of the hub and wider institution. The Research and Knowledge and Exchange (RKE) agreement with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club has enabled Hartpury to connect multiple community projects, and allowed staff and students to conduct real world research that is both useful for academic publication, teaching, and can shape industry practice. The project links Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Bristol Rovers Football Club, and local schools to try and increase physical activity in the Gloucestershire area in conjunction with an academic staff member and student on the MSc Sports Management programme.
Pete Lamb, Head of Community Outreach at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club stated: “Hartpury has opened many doors for us and have provided excellent value and insight into different organisational challenges. We find the HSBH easy to work with and they have connected us to many other organisations in the industry”.
Hartpury is one of 15 CATE-winning teams to have been recognised along with fifty-five new National Teaching Fellows. They’ll all be recognised at the 2023 awards ceremony that will take place on 28 September at The Library of Birmingham.
Alison Johns, Chief Executive, Advance HE, said: “Congratulations to all of the CATE teams and new National Teaching Fellows on this prestigious accolade which recognises and rewards their commitment to teaching and learning and the impact it has on student success.
“It is with great pride that we run these awards for the UK higher education sector designed to celebrate these passionate people who make such a difference to students’ education and to the practice of their colleagues. We look forward to working with the new NTFs and CATE winners and sharing their excellent practice with colleagues around the sector.”
An independent panel of senior higher education leaders, representing the four UK nations, assures the quality of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence and recommends winners.
Professor Becky Huxley-Binns (NTF, PFHEA), Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at the University of Hull, and Chair, UK Teaching Excellence Awards Advisory Panel 2023, said: "Every year as we select the NTFS and CATE winners, we are in awe of these extraordinary and gifted people who are teaching with such professionalism, passion and commitment in higher education. This year was no different.
“These awards are incredibly important in recognising and celebrating these people and in sharing 'what works' so that colleagues can build on their expertise too and students can enjoy the benefits of great practice in teaching and learning."
Initiatives like the Hartpury Sports Business Hub have no doubt helped to contribute to Hartpury’s high graduate employability rates with 97% of graduates in employment, further study or other purposeful activity (Graduate Outcomes 2023). Students also have access to over 3,000 employers via Hartpury’s Innovation, Careers and Enterprise Centre to gain real industry experience for future careers.
Hartpury University ranks 1st in the South West and 6th in the UK for Teaching Quality, according to The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide for 2023.
