UA92 becomes the youngest higher education establishment to be awarded silver in teaching excellence framework

Manchester’s University Academy 92 (UA92) is celebrating having been awarded an overall rating of Silver in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) scheme results released today, Thursday 28 September. 

This framework, which is undertaken every four years, is UA92’s biggest national measure of credibility and educational expertise since the higher education establishment’s launch in 2019; validating that its deliberately different approach to higher education is delivering excellent student experience and outcomes. 

The Silver overall rating signals that the student experience and student outcomes at UA92 are typically of a very high quality andpositions the institution as the youngest higher education provider to be awarded Silver. 

UA92, founded by Lancaster University and the Class of 92, was rated as achieving student experience and outcomes of typically very high quality.

The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) is a national scheme run by the Office for Students (OfS) that aims to encourage higher education providers to improve and deliver excellence in the areas that students care about the most: teaching, learning and achieving positive outcomes from their studies.

The TEF does this by assessing and rating universities and colleges for excellence above a set of minimum requirements for quality and standards. The ratings reflect the extent to which a provider delivers an excellent experience and outcomes for its mix of undergraduate students and across the range of its undergraduate courses and subjects. 228 providers took part in the TEF 2023.

Gary Pritchard, Chief Academic Officer at UA92, said:

“Achieving an Overall Rating of Silver in our first TEF review is a huge achievement. It is unheard of from a higher education institution of our age to receive this accolade so quickly and these results are testament to the expertise of our team – from our professors right through to our administration and wellbeing staff. 

“We hope that these results will show students who are considering UA92 as their chosen higher education establishment that we will provide them with excellence across both their academic journey and their overall university experience.”

The TEF results follow previous successes for the establishment, having ranked above the UK average in teaching, learning opportunities, feedback and assessment and academic support, in the 2023 National Student Survey.*

UA92 currently has over 1,000 students enrolled in degree and higher education courses across business, sport, media and digital disciplines at its Old Trafford campus, and its brand new Business School campus, which opened this September in Manchester city centre. 

Lobbying to make higher education accessible to all through its founding principles of accessibility, social mobility and inclusivity, more than 21% of UA92 students are from the most disadvantaged areas of the community (national average of 13.5% – UCAS).