The first ever national Teaching Excellence scheme (TEF) whose results are published today has rated the University of Worcester as Silver.
The assessors, who inspected the educational results for every university in England, found that Worcester "delivers high quality teaching, learning and outcomes for its students" and "consistently exceeds rigorous national quality requirements for UK higher education", and awarded Worcester a coveted silver rating.
Professor David Green, the University's Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive, said: "The high quality of a university education at Worcester has been evident for many years. I am delighted that this has been officially confirmed in this new national assessment and thank all the hard-working colleagues and students at the University who made this excellent result possible."
The TEF panel commended the University's approaches to course design, which it said "involves consultation with local employers and students and which provides high levels of stretch and significant challenge, contributing to demonstrable progress in the acquisition of knowledge, skills and understanding".
It also noted in its "Statement of Findings" that the University excels at teaching that encourages high levels of student engagement and commitment to learning and study, including "excellent levels" of contact time and schemes that involve students in the process of enhancing their own learning experience. Based on the evidence, the panel also reported that "students achieve excellent outcomes" at Worcester.
The panel recognised the "established University-wide culture that facilitates, recognises and rewards excellent teaching, which results in a high proportion of staff with recognised teaching qualifications".
Professor Sarah Greer, University of Worcester Deputy Vice Chancellor, who led the TEF submission, is delighted with today's result.
"High-quality teaching has always been at the very heart of what the University of Worcester stands for," she said. "It was originally founded as an emergency teacher training college 70 years ago, and during that time thousands of students have received a first class education and gone on to make a real difference in society."
The University is now one of the most successful in the country for the employment of its graduates " recent statistics placed Worcester in the top 20 of all English Higher Education institutes for employment of its graduates.
Student satisfaction is also high. In last year's National Student Survey (NSS), the University was above the national average in six of the seven measures. In personal development, Worcester was in the top 25% of all English universities, while graduates scored the University highly for its learning resources, following a huge investment in facilities in recent years, including the development of The Hive library. These results were reflected in the TEF Statement of Findings, which said: "the metrics indicate high levels of student satisfaction with teaching, academic support, assessment and feedback".
Repeated quality assessments by professional bodies, such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council and Quality Assurance Agency, also reinforce these highly positive endorsements.
Professor Greer added: "The University has never lost sight of the value of high quality teaching, across all its subjects, and on using inspiring learning, teaching and assessment strategies to enable all of our students to realise their full potential.
"More of our graduates have earned good degrees and gone on to sustained professional and personal success than ever before."