UALL Award Winners
UALL Award Winner 2010
The
UALL Awards Scheme
The Universities Association for Lifelong Learning
(UALL) Award Scheme was launched in 2009 to recognise and celebrate projects,
programmes and practices that promote lifelong learning in the university
sector.
There was stiff competition for the national award
this year, with 18 submissions. The adjudicators were very impressed with the
high quality of the projects submitted for the Award. Entries came from a wide variety of organizations engaged in
university lifelong learning around the UK, including some collaborative
projects involving a number of institutions.
Each entry was assessed on the criteria of “creativity,
innovation, sustainability, impact and transferability”.
From left to right: Jackie Dunne, UALL Honorary Secretary, Ian Ground, Explore Team Leader, North East Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Sunderland and Professor Jonathan Michie, Director, Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford.
Explore is a radically innovative
approach to lifelong learning. The model is that of a gym membership scheme.
But this is a gym for the mind and for learning.
Rather than pay to join one course,
adult learners can subscribe to the whole Explore scheme and can choose what to
attend and how they participate across Explore’s four seasons. About half of
the programme is in the form of one-offs lectures, seminars, day schools and
discussion groups with an emphasis on inter- and cross-disciplinary sessions.
About half is in the form of short bookable courses offering more sustained
study of a topic. The current season offers 600 hours of Higher Education
quality learning over 30 subjects by 50 expert tutors.
Based at the
North East Centre for Lifelong Learning in Newcastle upon Tyne, and run by the
University of Sunderland, the scheme is entirely financed by membership fees.
Fees are around £250 for a year’s subscription with concessions available. But
of course, because the whole programme is available,
members
get much more for their money.
Explore
offers a new sustainable model of lifelong learning, which values adult
learners and their needs, and which has the potential to grow and succeed on a
huge scale.
After the first year of the UALL Awards Scheme, Professor
Sir Peter Scott, Vice-Chancellor of Kingston University and Chair of UALL, said
that “The Awards Scheme is an ideal opportunity for institutions to gain
recognition for the valuable lifelong learning that is being undertaken
throughout the UK HE sector”.
There were three runners-up for the UALL Award who received
certificates for innovative and creative projects in lifelong learning at
Swansea University, Edinburgh College of Art and West London Lifelong Learning
Network.
Previous Winners
2009
The Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (UALL) recently launched an Awards Scheme to recognise and celebrate projects, programmes and practices that promote lifelong learning in the university sector. The Senior Studies Institute at the University of Strathclyde was presented with a stylish first award at an emotional ceremony during the UALL Annual Conference in Brighton on Tuesday 24
th March.
Fighting back tears, and still visibly surprised, the winner, Alison Morton from the Senior Studies Institute at the University of Strathclyde said, “I can’t believe it! Our Realising Your Potential project has been very successful in working with people over the age of 50 who are also claiming incapacity benefits in order to support them in re-entering the workforce. Overall, roughly half the participants have been able to move on to learning or employment – a really high proportion. Our project shows that this approach is a viable and valuable route to increased quality of life, including improved employability, for the most isolated individuals, and I am delighted to accept this Award on behalf of the University and the participants, with whom I have been honoured to be associated.”
Professor Sir Peter Scott, Vice-Chancellor of Kingston University and Chair of UALL, said afterwards that “The Awards Scheme is an ideal opportunity for institutions to gain recognition for the valuable lifelong learning that is being undertaken throughout the UK HE sector, and the winning submission from the University of Strathclyde shows how much lifelong learning can contribute to the HE sector. We have been delighted and almost overwhelmed by number and quality of submissions for the awards from universities across the United Kingdom. The standard and range of submissions was so impressive that we will be expanding the scheme in 2010.”
The four runners-up also received certificates and a small trophy for innovative and creative projects in lifelong learning at London Metropolitan University, the University of Glasgow, the University of Wales, Bangor, and the University of Brighton.