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Educate North Awards shortlist announced

The full shortlist for April’s Educate North Awards, designed to celebrate the very finest work in higher and further education, has been revealed.

The prizes will be given at the Award Ceremony, held at Manchester’s Hilton Deansgate on 23 April 2020. Tickets are available here.

Business/Industry Collaboration – HE/FE Sector 

  • Kirklees College & Huddersfield Town Education Partner
  • Leeds City College, University Centre Leeds – HE Science Team
  • Tees Valley Logistics Academy – Education Training Collective

Business/Industry Collaboration – University Sector

  • Chester Business School, University of Chester – Centre for Work Related Studies
  • Emile Education & Manchester Met Uni’s Faculty of Education
  • University of Salford & Northern Care Alliance Partnership

Social Mobility Award – HE/FE Sector

  • Greater Manchester Higher – UNi:4U summer school programme
  • Huddersfield New College
  • Liverpool Football College
  • Myerscough College – Croxteth Campus
  • Preston’s College & Mark Taylor – Construction HOS
  • Qube Learning
  • St John Rigby College & GMHigher – The Way Programme
  • University Campus Oldham
  • University Campus Oldham – The Disability Service
  • University Centre Leeds – Community Activity Programme

Social Mobility Award – University Sector

Sponsored by Smooth North West

Judges chose not to release a shortlist for this category. The winner will be announced on the evening.

Business Collaboration & Partnerships Award – HE/FE Sector

  • Cheshire College South & West
  • Leeds City College, University Centre Leeds – HE Science Team
  • Newcastle College Energy Academy
  • Qube Learning
  • University Centre Leeds – Policing Taster Days

Business Collaboration & Partnerships Award – University Sector

Judges chose not to release a shortlist for this category. The winner will be announced on the evening.

Employer Engagement Award – HE/FE Sector

  • Backstage Academy
  • Bishop Burton College
  • Greenhead College
  • Hopwood Hall College
  • Leeds City College, University Centre Leeds – HE Science Team
  • Macclesfield College
  • National Employer Training, part of the Grimsby Institute
  • Tees Valley Logistics Academy – Education Training Collective
  • The Manchester College – Employability and Partnerships Team
  • The Manchester College – Employer Sponsored Programmes

Employer Engagement Award – University Sector

Sponsored by Smooth North East

  • Northumbria Students Union
  • The University of Bradford

External Relations Team of the Year

  • LTE Group – Marketing and External Relations Team
  • Myerscough College – Open Day & Country Fair
  • University Centre Leeds – Community Activity Programme
  • University of Bradford
  • University of Salford, External Relations & Salford Untold

Innovation Award

Sponsored by Voiceworks

  • Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education
  • Leeds Beckett University, Carnegie School of Education & Story Makers Company
  • Macclesfield College
  • Manchester Metropolitan University – Third Term Programme
  • Manchester Metropolitan University & David Leathlean – The Joy of Learning’ Project
  • The Manchester College – Stacey Foy & Improving Grammar through Flipped Personalised Digital Delivery
  • University Campus North Lincolnshire, Humber Outreach Project & Trent Valley Gliding Club
  • University of Central Lancashire & Fernandez Foundation Hyderabad – International Midwifery Educator Programme
  • University of Chester & Chester Smart Composite Group – Use of multifunctional structures

Student Experience Award – HE/FE Sector

  • Backstage Academy
  • Hopwood Hall College
  • Huddersfield New College – Talented Athletes Support Programme
  • Liverpool Football College
  • New College Durham – The 42 Day Project
  • Newcastle College – Hot Topic Initiative Pastoral Support Team
  • Newcastle College University Centre
  • Oldham College – Additional Learning Support
  • Oldham College – Supported Internships
  • The Manchester College – How ‘The Deal’ supports Employability

Student Experience Award – University Sector

Sponsored by Communicorp

  • Liverpool Hope Students’ Union & Caitriona and Haris
  • University of Central Lancashire – Graduation July 2019
  • University of Central Lancashire, Faculty of Health and Wellbeing – Foundation Entry Programme
  • University of Cumbria Institute of Health Nursing Team
  • University of Salford – Maker Space
  • University of Salford, Salford Now & Quays News

International Partnership – HE/FE Sector

  • Grimsby Institute
  • NCUK – The University Consortium & British Study Centres
  • South Shields Marine School

International Partnership – University Sector

  • University of Central Lancashire & Fernandez Foundation Hyderabad – International Midwifery Educator Programme
  • University of Chester & Chester Smart Composite Group

Community Engagement Award – Schools

  • AmaSing
  • Pocklington School Foundation
  • Sedbergh School
  • St Peter’s School, York – Public Lecture Series
  • St. Vincent’s School for Sensory Impairment

Community Engagement Award – HE/FE Sector

  • Askham Bryan College & Prince’s Trust – FLEXible Learning Community Engagement programmes
  • Cheshire College South & West and Belong Villages
  • Craven College – Adult, Community and Projects
  • Leeds City College Performing Arts, West Yorkshire Police & Red Ladder Theatre Company – Knife Crime Project
  • Newcastle College – ESOL Development and Integration
  • Oldham Sixth Form College – Essential Life Skills Project
  • Preston’s College – Construction
  • St John Rigby College & GMHigher – The Way Programme
  • University Centre Leeds – Community Activity Programme

Community Engagement Award – University Sector

Sponsored by Heart Yorkshire

  • Liverpool Hope Student Union & Caitriona and Haris
  • Newcastle University Students’ Union
  • Northumbria University – NUSTEM Pop-Up Shops
  • University of Bradford School of Management
  • University of Chester & CHEW – Chester Healthy Eating Workshops
  • University of Cumbria – Institute of Health Nursing Team

Research Project of the Year

Judges chose not to release a shortlist for this category. The winner will be announced on the evening.

Research Team of the Year

Judges chose not to release a shortlist for this category. The winner will be announced on the evening.

Teaching Excellence Award

  • Helen Appleby, Wilberforce College
  • Birkenhead Sixth Form College Staff
  • Burnley College Sixth Form Centre Staff
  • Derek Fredricks, ACORN Academy
  • David Hastings, Wilberforce College
  • Colette Mazzola, Blackpool and The Fylde College
  • Anna Royle, St Margaret Ward Primary School
  • Jimmy Stobbart, Sunderland College
  • Sunderland College Music Staff Team
  • Zac Wilkinson, Preston’s College

UK Leadership Award

  • Chris Andreou, Innersummit Ltd
  • Jayne Clarke, The Pinnacle Learning Trust
  • Emma Forrest-Leigh, Grimsby Institute
  • Professor Zahir Irani, University of Bradford School of Management
  • Rachel Kay, Macclesfield College
  • Mike Kilbride, Birkenhead Sixth Form College
  • Susannah McShane, Coop Academy Woodslee
  • Lisa O’Loughlin, The Manchester College
  • Katie Wheeldon, National Employer Training

UK Apprenticeship Award

  • Macclesfield College
  • Myerscough College
  • Qube Learning
  • The Juice Academy
  • University of Central Lancashire & Lancashire School of Business and Enterprise – Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship

Business School of the Year

Judges chose not to release a shortlist for this category. The winner will be announced on the evening.

Students’ Union of the Year

  • Chester Students’ Union
  • Liverpool Hope Students’ Union
  • Newcastle University Students’ Union
  • Northumbria Students’ Union
  • University of Sunderland Students’ Union

Further Education College of the Year

  • Bishop Burton College
  • Burnley College
  • Education Training Collective
  • Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education
  • Huddersfield New College
  • Myerscough College
  • Oldham College
  • Preston’s College
  • The Manchester College
  • Tyne Coast College

Entrepreneur of the Year

Sponsored by The Masood Enterprise Centre at the University of Manchester

  • Adrian Brooks, Backstage Academy
  • Annie Guy, Musical Theatre Studio Ltd
  • Dr John A Patterson, St. Vincent’s School for Sensory Impairment

University of the Year

  • Edgehill University
  • Teesside University

Lifetime Achievement Award

Supported by Dr John Kennedy CBE, Patron of The Educate North Awards

Judges chose not to release a shortlist for this category. The winner will be announced on the evening

House of Commons Speaker at Educate North Awards

The recently appointed Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, will be guest of honour at this year’s Educate North Awards, taking place on April 23rd at the Deansgate Hilton Hotel.

Accompanied by his wife, Lady Hoyle, the Speaker – who took over from John Bercow in December 2019 – will present a number of awards on the evening.

You can read more on the Prolific North website.

Manchester University supports Educate North Awards

The Masood Enterprise Centre (MEC) at The University of Manchester has become the first higher education institution to join up as a patron of the Educate North Awards, which take place in April 2020.

Hosted by Carm Productions, the event takes place on 23 April 2020 at Manchester’s Hilton Deansgate.

For more details, visit the Prolific North website.

Educate North Awards – winners announced

The North West’s education sector was celebrated at the Educate North Awards, held in Manchester on 25 April. Over 400 people witnessed a total of 23 awards handed out to competing education organisations and individuals. University of the Year went to the University of Newcastle.

Dr John Kennedy CBE was patron of the Educate North Awards and sponsor of the pre-dinner reception.

For the full story, see the Prolific North news page.

Radio partners announced for 2019 Educate North Awards

Radio stations Smooth North East, Smooth North West and Heart Yorkshire have all returned as official partners of the 2019 Educate North Awards.

The Awards will be sponsored by the Communicorp Ltd owned companies for the second year running and will highlight the best achievements of Universities throughout the region.

“Radio is a fabulous medium for Educate North,” said Dr John Kennedy CBE, Patron of the Awards. “The awards represent a tremendous opportunity to showcase the North in the middle of uncertain times.”

For more details, visit the Prolific North news story here.

Educate North Awards returns for 2019

The Educate North Awards – the leading event for the University and Higher Education sector – returns on Thursday 25th April 2019, at The Hilton Hotel in Manchester.

The awards celebrate excellence and the world-class success of the North’s University and Higher Education sector as well as rewarding success in Further and Sixth Form Education.

Launched in 2014 by John and broadcaster and producer Rob McLoughlin OBE, the Awards have gone from strength to strength.

For more information, visit the Prolific North news story.

Bertie Ahern to deliver 11th John Kennedy Lecture

Bertie Ahern, the former Irish prime minister, will deliver the 11th John Kennedy Lecture in Liverpool on 22 November, 2018.

Bertie Ahern retired as Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) in May 2008 having enjoyed the unique distinction in modern Irish politics of being the first person in over sixty years to have been elected to that office on three successive occasions.

He served as a member of Dáil Éireann (the Irish Parliament) for almost 35 years. He was first elected to the Dáil in 1977 for the constituency of Dublin-Finglas and he represented Dublin Central from 1981 until 2011.

He was Minister for Labour from March 1987 to November 1991 and was appointed Minister for Finance on three separate occasions from November 1991 to December 1994. During this time he was one of the Irish representatives to sign the Maastricht Treaty, having been heavily involved in its negotiations. Bertie Ahern was first elected Taoiseach in June 1997, he was re-elected in June 2002 and again in May 2007. In 1997 his party was elected to government in coalition with the Progressive Democrats. This minority administration was supported by a small number of Independent members of Parliament. Bertie Ahern received widespread praise for his political skills in ensuring that this administration served its full five year term and delivered on real political and economic progress for the Irish people.

On the wider world stage during his Presidency of the European Council from January 2004 to June 2004 Bertie Ahern presided over the historic enlargement of the European Union to 27 member states including eight countries from Eastern Europe. He led Ireland to take leadership roles on key global issues such as increasing aid to developing countries and tackling the spread of HIV AIDS.

Bertie Ahern’s achievements as a leader at home and abroad have been recognised internationally. He has been conferred with honorary degrees by several universities and is one of only five people to enjoy the great distinction of having been invited to address both the Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Houses of Congress of the United States in Washington D.C.

The defining moment of this period and a defining moment in Irish history was the successful negotiation by Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair of the Good Friday Agreement between the British and Irish Governments and the political parties in Northern Ireland in April 1998.

The Good Friday Agreement transformed relations for the better between Ireland and Britain, between Ireland, North and South, and between different traditions within Northern Ireland. It instilled a new ethos of tolerance and respect into politics on the island of Ireland and between diplomatic relationship between the islands of Ireland and Britain.

Educate North Awards 2018

Hundreds of academics, students, executives and business people from across the North and the UK celebrated the region’s thriving education sector at the Educate North Awards on 26 April.

The Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel proved a suitably splendid setting for a night that championed success and brought together leading vice-chancellors, principals from the FE and Sixth Form sectors as well as some of the most talented staff in the North’s higher and further education institutions.

Delivered in association with RM Productions, Don’t Panic Events and Prolific North, a total of 17 categories were awarded, culminating in the prestigious University of the Year title which this year went to Newcastle University.

The Lifetime Achievement award, meanwhile, was awarded to Jim Keaton MBE of Liverpool Hope University. A full list of winners can be found below.

Entries had been up almost 40% this year following a major radio campaign with partners Smooth Radio North West, Smooth North East and Heart Yorkshire following a tie-up with parent company Communicorp UK and The Ministry of Results.

You can read more about the event and see photos of the winners on the Prolific North website here.