Teaching excellence framework (TEF) 2019: results announced

Several UK universities have secured improved ratings in the 2019 teaching excellence framework.

Two institutions – Staffordshire University and the University for the Creative Arts – secured gold awards, having previously been rated silver.

Another pair – the University of Roehampton and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David – were rated as silver, having previously held bronze awards.

However, other universities failed to improve on their prior performance in the assessment, which is based on metrics in areas such as student satisfaction, retention and graduate employment, as well as institutional submissions on teaching standards.

Four institutions that were previously rated silver received the same rating this year, including the University of Sheffield. The universities of Central Lancashire and Sussex, plus Teesside University, also fell into this category.

The universities of East London and Salford retained their bronze ratings after reapplying this year.

And the University of Law, which previously held a gold award, was rated silver this time around.

Read more: Teaching excellence framework (TEF) 2019: full results table

Most TEF awards have previously lasted for three years, but this year’s – the fourth set allocated under the framework – will last for only two. This is because the government plans to introduce subject-level assessments, in an evaluation being conducted over 2019-20 and 2020-21, which will produce provider and subject-level ratings.

No awards will be made next year, and ratings awarded in 2017 will be extended for a year, so that they last until the introduction of the subject-level TEF.

A total of 78 TEF ratings were announced on 19 June, many of them covering further education colleges or private providers. A total of 282 institutions now hold awards, with 76 on gold, 132 silver, and 60 bronze.

A number of additional providers received provisional awards, which mean that they meet national quality requirements, but do not yet have sufficient data to be fully assessed. These included Arden University; NCH at Northeastern – formerly the New College of Humanities; and Richmond, the American International University in London.

A review of the TEF, led by Dame Shirley Pearce, is due to report over the summer.

Sir Chris Husbands, chair of the TEF assessment panel and vice-chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, said that the first three years of TEF results “paint a picture of excellence in every corner of higher education, in all regions, for all types of providers serving all types of students”.

“The assessment of hundreds of universities and colleges, using the expertise of the TEF panels, has laid a solid foundation for the next phase of the TEF which will follow the independent review,” Sir Chris said.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com