At Bath we're proud of the high level of academic achievement, intellectual curiosity, skills development and the employability of our students. Our success has won us increased applications and recognition, including a rise in our ranking to 5th in the Complete University Guide 2024.
When we embarked on the Curriculum Transformation in 2018, it was with the goal of sustaining and improving our place in the vanguard of our sector. For this, we needed to overhaul complex and outdated course structures and innovate our teaching approaches, and even sustain the momentum of this ambitious programme during a pandemic.
The CT Celebration event on 19th June marked a milestone in the implementation of the programme, looking back on our achievements and recognising our exemplars, as we prepare to launch a new tranche of CT courses in the new Academic Year. Opening the event, the Vice Chancellor observed that CT had delivered greater resilience in our ability to adapt to change and growth more easily, now and in the future. He acknowledged the huge volume of effort invested in making it happen, adding: “We are already seeing the benefits. The course-wide approach gives us greater visibility and coherence across our collective efforts. We are now launching shorter, simpler assessment regulations that are clear and more accessible for staff and students alike. We have updated & refreshed our content and teaching approaches for a more holistic and well-rounded education and even higher employability.”
Introducing the awards section of the event, our PVC (Education), Julian Chaudhuri, acknowledged the courage and tenacity of the teams who went first: “Our early adopters and vanguard teams gave us insights into what worked and what needed more work, particularly around team teaching, assessment and prioritisation during implementation. Their lessons learned have fuelled improvements and best practice.”
There were three main categories of awards: Innovation, Teamwork and Leadership. Faculties were asked to nominate their winners, who all received a certificate and an award. The winners were as follows:
For the Innovation Award, which recognised creativity, courage and dedication in delivering ground-breaking new courses and teaching methods, the winners were: Tamsin McLaren (SoM), Sarah Moore (HSS), Philip Shields E&D) and Matthew Jones, Gan Shermer & Mike Whittlesey (Science).
In the Teamwork category, which celebrated exceptional collaboration during planning and delivery of CT courses, across their faculties and beyond, the winners were: Education with Psychology (HSS), comprising Karen Angus-Cole, Sam Carr and Iaonnis Costas Batlle, and the teaching team; the Computer Science CT Team (Science), with Fabio Nemetz, John Benardis, Zack Lyons, Willem Heijltjes and Christof Lutteroth; the Chemical Engineering CT Course Development Team featuring Marianne Ellis, John Chew, Tina Düren, Carmelo Herdes, with support from Jo Hatt; and from the School of Management, Philip Cooper, Kay Elliott, Gamila Shoib, Victoria Willis, Mariachiara Barzotto and Ting Qiu.
The Leadership award recognised the energy, resourcefulness and understanding of exemplary leaders in encouraging, supporting, driving and delivering CT within their faculties. The winners were: Marion Harney (E&D), Richard Kamm (SoM), Susan Crennell (Science) and Richard Joiner (HSS).
Our Highly Commended staff in these categories were Sue Wonnacott, Chris Todd, Marguerite Hallett, SPS PG CT Team, Jo Stewart-Cox, Gail Forey and Matteo de Tina.
The final awards were for Institutional Leadership of this highly ambitious and demanding programme, which called for indefatigable and relentless drive, tempered with compassion and humour to keep the programme on track. The two special award winners were Marion Harney and Fran Laughton.
In closing the awards ceremony, Julian applauded CT as a fundamental enabler for the ‘Excellence in Education’ pillar of our strategy. “It facilitates continuous improvement and innovation, such as team-teaching and co-creation in response to student feedback, sector shifts and employer needs. Embracing the opportunity for positive change will help to future-proof how we cultivate our students into well-rounded, highly qualified and sought-after global citizens.”
Julian also looked ahead to the coming Academic Year, when the remaining faculties would launch their new CT courses and the simplified assessment regulations would be in place. His final accolade was for the CT Project Team, without whom these milestone successes would not have been possible.
The rest of the event was a chance for those involved in the programme to get together, socialise and chat about their experiences.