TEF Silver award for University of Reading

The University of Reading has been awarded Silver in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), recognising that its student experience and outcomes are very high quality with some outstanding features.

TEF is a national scheme run by the Office for Students (OfS) and aims to encourage higher education providers to improve and deliver excellence in the areas that students care about the most: teaching, learning and achieving positive outcomes from their studies.

The University of Reading was awarded silver overall, and silver for student experience and student outcomes. 

The award is valid for four years and signifies that the University consistently exceeds the national quality requirements for UK higher education.

In particular, the TEF Panel feedback noted outstanding quality in the following areas:

Research, scholarship, professional practice and/or employer engagement, noting that research-informed teaching, use of specialist research resources in teaching, examples of embedding professional practice, and employer engagement across a range of provision contribute to an outstanding academic experience for students.

Approaches to supporting student success, noting a holistic approach and uses of tailored approaches that are highly effective in ensuring students succeed in and progress beyond their studies.

Continuation and completion rates and progression rates, noting evidence of very high continuation and completion rates for all groups of students, with outstanding rates for some groups of students, and outstanding rates of progression in some subject areas or student groups.

Elizabeth McCrum, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching & Learning), said: “This award is testament to the dedication of the highly professional and talented staff who teach, inspire and support our students throughout their learning experience here at Reading.

“We are very proud of the hard work that goes into this and welcome the TEF rating as official recognition of the great job they are doing.

“It also reflects the significant efforts we have made to strengthen the quality of our teaching and our student experience, to create more opportunities for student and staff partnership and to maintain a positive learning environment that helps all our students to fulfil their potential. 

“The University is committed to continuous improvement and further enhancements, developed in response to student feedback, will be realised as we implement the Portfolio Review Programme from 2024/25.”

Information on awards for each of the participating institutions is available on the Office for Students website