Awards for Supporting Student Learning Presented 07.04.11

The inaugural ceremony for the Awards for Supporting Student Learning took place on Thursday 7th April 2011.  These awards have been developed to complement the existing academic award schemes and are designed to reward “the efforts and achievements of staff who are responsible for supporting student learning and /or the provision of an effective and positive learning environment in UCD”, but who do not have a direct teaching role. 

From a highly competitive field of 39 applications, the adjudication panel selected seven awards to be made: four individual awards; one group award and two special awards.  Supported by the Strategic Innovation Fund (HEA/DES), individual awards of up to 1,000 euro and group awards of up to 2,500 euro were available to recipients.  Awards can be used to attend relevant teaching and learning development events, or for the purchase of materials or equipment relevant to teaching and learning development. 

Speaking at the awards ceremony, President Hugh Brady complimented the award winners on the quality and innovative nature of the projects they had developed.  Recent reviews of the university, most notably the recent Institutional Review, had praised highly the university’s strategy and commitment to excellence in teaching and learning. Dr Brady emphasised the strategic importance of providing an excellent learning experience for UCD students and the important role that support staff play: “the development of a parallel reward system for non-academic staff, recognising their  contribution to student learning, has been long overdue… Recognising how both academic and  non-academic contributions can combine in the development of world-class education is essential if we are to maximise effort and create effective new partnerships amongst staff”.

For further information on the Awards for Supporting Student Learning please see: http://www.ucd.ie/teaching/awardsgrants/assl/

A display of the 2011 Award Winners Projects will be part of the All-Ireland Administrators Conference which will be held at UCD on Thursday 12th May:  http://www.aua.ac.uk/events/annual/ireland/index.htm