Institutional Awards for Learning and Teaching

The University of Liverpool recognises excellence in learning and teaching through an annual internal awards process. Each Faculty will communicate the deadline for nominations to their staff. Find out more about the National Teaching Fellowship (NTF) and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) Scheme on this page.

NTF and CATE

The National Teaching Fellowship and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence, coordinated by Advance HE, recognise and reward excellence in teaching in Higher Education in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The NTF scheme has been established for over 20 years.

The University has achieved good success in recent rounds of the scheme notably with Professor Barry Quinn from Dentistry winning  NTF in 2023 and 40 colleagues from The School of Health Sciences won the prestigious and highly competitive team award Simulation Champions team win CATE Award in 2021

The scheme aims to:

  • raise the profile of learning and teaching
  • recognise and celebrate individuals and teams who make an outstanding impact on the student learning experience
  • provide a national focus for institutional teaching and learning excellence schemes. 

Call for expressions of interest in submitting an application for an award in 2025

Deadline for expressions of interest is noon 13 September 2024. 

Individual award (NTF)

Applications for an Individual National Teaching Fellowship are to complete the following form: link to follow which is based around the NTFS criteria institutional guidance for institutions produced by Advance HE

  • Criterion 1: Individual excellence (Max.250 words)
  • Criterion 2: Raising the profile of excellence (Max.250 words)
  • Criterion 3: Developing excellence (Max.250 words)

Once application has been submitted, your Head of Department/Line Manager are asked to complete the following supporting statement:  link to follow

Collaborative award (CATE)

Teams interested in submitting an application for a Collaborative Award are to complete the following form: link to follow which is based on the CATE criteria and institutional guidance for institutions produced by Advance HE

  • Criterion 1: Excellence in the team’s collaborative approach (Max.375 words)
  • Criterion 2: Excellence in the impact of collaborative working (Max.375 words)

Once application has been submitted, your Head of Department/Line Manager are asked to complete the following supporting statement: link to follow

Learn more about applying for NTF and CATE

Learn more about applying for NTF and CATE through the NTFS and CATE websites.

NTF/CATE Pipeline Programme

University of Liverpool colleagues who are interested in submitting an expression of interest to apply for either a National Teaching fellow award or Collaborative Award for teaching excellence in 2024 can join the NTF/CATE Pipeline Programme.

Next Steps

In the first instance, and prior to submitting an expression of interest, please contact Dr Charles Buckley who is the institutional contact for the awards: Charles.Buckley@liverpool.ac.uk.

Following this initial contact expressions of interest should completed using the online forms (see above for more information).

Decisions on which candidates are to be asked to prepare a full application are made by a panel that works with the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education, with senior representation included from each Faculty. The group usually expects to select up to three individual members of staff to prepare the full application for NTF and up to one CATE team. Those chosen are allocated mentors.

The process within the University for applications under the scheme is coordinated by The Leadership, Organisational, Professional & Academic Development Academy (“The Academy”).

Explore our offer

The Academic Development team have created an interactive guide to support you in navigating the breadth of opportunities on offer. Visit the Developing Your Teaching page for more information.

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