Ulster University was named University of the Year 2024 in the highly acclaimed Times Higher Education Awards. It is the first time that the university has bagged this award. The award is often termed as the Oscars of UK higher education and celebrated to mark the excellence in universities across the UK and Ireland.
We are going to take Ulster into a very different place through our people.” Ulster University vice-chancellor Professor Paul Bartholomew has thanked staff and students for earning the award and described how it was ‘incredibly humbling to be stood on this podium, recognized by so many individuals in different parts of our community.’.
The university was lauded by the judges as a “force for good” in creating peace, prosperity, and cohesion, especially in Northern Ireland, where it has been pivotal in transforming the region since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago. The judges noted Ulster University’s status as an anchor institution in a rapidly changing environment and its significant contributions to the local community and the broader region.
Judges pointed to the completion of Ulster University’s £364m Belfast campus as an outstanding achievement. The new campus will help strengthen bonds with a historically underserved community, but is supported by a schools programme aimed at improving higher education participation, particularly amongst young men in the city. The investment in the Londonderry campus by the university was also considered groundbreaking cross-jurisdictional work, which saw the Irish Government commit a whopping €44.5 million (€37 million) toward this end.
This year also marked notable milestones, including the fact that its first cohort of medical students at the Graduate Entry School of Medicine was soon to graduate and that it had established the first paramedic science course in Northern Ireland. These initiatives will put Londonderry campus in the right limelight as the prime place for health sciences education in UK and Ireland.
The university’s new Belfast campus, one of the biggest higher education construction projects in Europe, has been named Building of the Year by the Royal Society of Ulster Architects. This in itself is an endorsement of the level of commitment to providing world-class facilities for students and staff.
Apart from its physical developments, the impacts of Ulster University transcend academic horizons, such as in its role hosting the visit by US President Joe Biden on marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
The visit underscored, again, the university’s role in the fostering of peace and collaboration in Ireland.
All in all, choosing Ulster University as the University of the Year speaks to its influence, significant roles in shaping higher education, and the commitment to spearhead positive change in the region.
