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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

What is the Teaching Excellence Framework?

The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) is a national exercise, introduced by the government in England. It assesses excellence in teaching at universities and colleges, and how well they ensure excellent outcomes for their students in terms of graduate-level employment or further study. Participating universities and colleges can achieve a rating of gold, silver, or bronze - or provisional if they do not have enough data for a full award.

The TEF awards are decided by an independent panel of experts. The panel is made up of academics who lead and teach at UK higher education providers; students; and experts on employment and widening participation in higher education. The TEF Panel judged the ratings based on six main metrics based on national data, supplementary data where available, and a submission of additional evidence supplied by each university or college.

In 2023, BNU received a Silver award in the Teaching Excellence Framework 2023. Judged across 13 features, the TEF panel found that every single feature at BNU was either judged very high quality or outstanding. They awarded BNU Silver for both Student Experience and for Student Outcomes. 

The Office for Students states that an award of Silver indicates that an HEI’s ‘student experience and student outcomes are typically very high quality’. An overall Silver rating also means that BNU has high quality teaching standards; regularly exceeds the baseline quality expected in terms of outcomes for students from all backgrounds, particularly in terms of retention and progression; and offers students high quality physical and digital resources.  

Please see our full submission here. You can find more out more about the Panel's judgement on the OfS website.