The Impact of CUSU Student Led Teaching Awards

Nominations for the CUSU Student-Led Teaching Awards close at 12 noon on Thursday 21st April. The Awards aim to recognise the exceptional contribution of teaching and non-teaching staff to education at Cambridge. Any student is welcome to nominate any member of staff who has inspired them, challenged them to meet their full potential, or helped to support and enhance their educational experience. Nominations can be made in the three categories of Lecturer, Supervisor, and Student Support.

If you have not submitted a nomination yet, please visit the Student Led Teaching Award page now!

Following the close of nominations, the winners will be chosen by a panel of students. Those who receive Awards, as well as the students who nominated them, will be invited to a presentation on 5th May in the University Combination Room. The Awards are a unique way of recognising the hard work of those who teach and support students, and allow students and staff to come together to celebrate this hard work. Despite only being in their third year, the SLTAs are an important force for good within the University, and publicly show the value of excellent teaching and student support.

As well as thanking and congratulating those individuals who are nominated and win Awards, the SLTAs provide an opportunity for students to highlight excellent practice throughout the Collegiate University. The information collected through the Awards is considered by those responsible for developing teaching and learning within the University, and is used to support the continued enhancement of teaching and learning provision at Cambridge.

We also know that the Awards mean a lot to those who are nominated. As well as allowing for personal celebration, the Awards are of real professional value too.

“Winning a Student-Led Teaching Award in 2015 was a real honour for me, and made a huge difference to my career as a teaching-focussed academic. Winning the award significantly raised the profile of my teaching, and my approaches to learning and teaching have since been presented to meetings of senior academics across the university. The award also increased my status within my own department, who subsequently nominated me for a national teaching prize (Royal Society of Biology HE Bioscience Teacher of the Year). I now have a teaching-focussed lectureship at the University of Hull, and having the CUSU award was a major reason I was offered the job. The trophy sits on my desk in my new office, and is a lovely reminder of the relationship I had with students while in Cambridge – I can’t thank the students that nominated me and CUSU enough!”

Katharine Hubbard, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Hull

The CUSU Student-Led Teaching Awards were started in 2014, and across three sets of Awards, the number of nominations has risen from just under 200 to more than 670. Over this time nominations have been made for academic staff at all levels across the Collegiate University, and for a range of other staff, including librarians, Tutors, custodians and chaplains.