RATE
The Recognising and Advancing Teaching Excellence (RATE) Award scheme was first introduced by Stirling Students' Union in 2010. RATE was born from the Union's desire to recognise the excellent quality of teaching at the University of Stirling and to provide students with the opportunity to identify areas of good practice within their learning experience.
The awards have continued to grow in success and popularity since their introduction. In 2017, we received over 1,300 nominations, resulting in the nomination of 420 academic and professional staff to be nominated for an award. Those 1,300+ nominations showed that our students value the support that they are given by professional and academic staff, as well as the time that they dedicated to students. Engaging students in course material, through innovative lecture styles, was found to be at the heart of good practice for our students.
With our help and support, University of Stirling staff members have been able to go forward for National Learning and Teaching awards: in 2014, May McCreddie (School of Health Sciences) was shortlisted for the Most Innovative Teacher of the Year Award at the Times Higher Education Awards, using the qualitive data we had received from the RATE Awards as their evidence, and 2016 Postgraduate Supervisor of the Year winner, David Lavaelle (School of Sport) went forward for the THES Outstanding Research Supervisor Award.
The RATE awards depend on student nominations. Your nominations are used to inform the University about what you, as a student body, consider to be the best methods of teaching. They are also used to identify any necessary improvements in learning and teaching at the University. RATE is intended to empower students to be co-creators in their learning & teaching experience through feeding back about their learning experience at Stirling.
RATE Awards 2019
Congratulations to all those nominated during the RATE nominations! Find out all those who won Awards by accessing the 2019 RATE Award presentation here.
To see photographs, from the event, click here.
If you have any questions about the awards, please direct them to Clair Murray, Democracy & Research Coordinator, at clair.murray@stir.ac.uk