ASTON named Guardian’s university of the year
We’re very excited to learn that Guardian has today announced Aston as University of the Year 2020!
Aston has been awarded this honour for the graduate outcomes, our diversity & inclusion activity, and for embedding sustainability.
SMARTNET team is being proud to be part of such a dynamic, tolerant and progressive community.
Professor Alec Cameron, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, announced that ASTON has today been named University of the Year in the Guardian University Awards 2020:
This prestigious accolade has been awarded following Aston’s rise to 30th in the rankings of the Guardian University Guide 2021 – a crucial league table that focuses on student satisfaction, graduate employment and quality of teaching.
In making this award, the judges considered the effectiveness of key criteria including:
- Graduate employability and earnings
- Retention of students
- Closing attainment gaps
- Embedding sustainability
Unlike most of the other awards presented by The Guardian and other outlets, the University of the Year award is not based on self-nomination. Aston did not apply for this award, nor were we nominated by a third party. The decision to make this award to Aston University is based on the Guardian’s objective assessment of 121 UK universities against numerous criteria. The award was not a subjective recognition – it wasn’t down to a selection panel – but it resulted from a data assessment that weighted various achievements, rankings and social measures.
This award is a fantastic testament to the hard work of all our staff and students here at Aston. I am incredibly proud of our diverse, collegial and dynamic community. I’ve been particularly inspired by how our staff and students have risen to the challenge of the last eight months, as the education and assessment of our students was disrupted and we moved to online education. The resilience and flexibility of everyone in our community, during this difficult time, has been outstanding.
We discovered this morning that we have also won the Buildings that Inspire award for our new Students’ Union building. With the building at the heart of our campus, we are rightly proud of it and the central presence it gives to our student body, and this recognition is a strong endorsement of the clear vision and hard work that so many put into this project.
You can read the full press release here.
The video of Professor Cameron on YouTube:
