Ulster University vice-chancellor Paul Bartholomew has spoken of his “pride” after the institution was crowned University of the Year 2024 in the annual Times Higher Education Awards.
It’s the first time in the university’s history that it has been recognised as the top higher education institution in the UK and Ireland.
Known as the Oscars of the UK university sector, Thursday’s awards celebrated the best of higher education, with the University of the Year accolade honouring exceptional university performance.
Ulster University was hailed by judges as a “force for good in fostering peace, prosperity and cohesion” and took the top spot in recognition of its role as an anchor institution in a region that has undergone rapid change in the quarter-century since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Ulster University was up against London Metropolitan University, University of Stirling, University of Leicester, University of Sunderland, and University of Surrey.
The award honoured the completion of Ulster University’s £364m Belfast campus, creating a vital connection to a historically underserved community, backed up with a schools programme designed to boost higher education participation among the city’s young males.
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In what was a momentous year, the university secured a multimillion-pound Shared Island investment in a new teaching and student services building in Londonderry, which is set to expand an already thriving hub for health sciences, interdisciplinary training and practice in the north west.
The campus is preparing to graduate the first cohort of doctors from the Graduate Entry School of Medicine next year and offers the first paramedic science course in Northern Ireland, meaning that Ulster University’s Londonderry campus provides the most comprehensive higher education healthcare offering in the UK and Ireland.
Additionally, the university marked the completion of its new state-of-the-art Belfast city centre campus, one of the largest higher education capital projects in Europe, recently named Building of the Year by the Royal Society of Ulster Architects.
“We are incredibly proud and delighted to be announced as University of the Year by Times Higher Education,” Mr Bartholomew said after receiving the award in Birmingham’s International Convention Centre.
“We thought we had a chance, but we were shortlisted with five other fantastic institutions and you never really know what the judges will be looking for. We did have a remarkable year,” he added.
“And while we don’t go chasing these awards, the recognition is wonderful for all the staff and the support of our student community across our campuses.”
The vice-chancellor said that while winning recognition for progress to date is a boost for all at the university, there’s still “a job to be done” in building on what has been achieved over the past umber of years.
The judges were also impressed by the securing of a €44.5m (£37m) investment from the Irish Government for the development of Ulster University’s Londonderry campus, making it a ground-breaking cross-jurisdictional project.
The significance of such efforts to ongoing peace and collaboration were underscored by Ulster University’s role as host to US President Joe Biden, on his visit to mark the Good Friday Agreement’s 25th anniversary.
The judges said these achievements “demonstrated the university’s growing influence and status in the island of Ireland, and as a force for good in fostering peace, prosperity and cohesion”.