WUF Awards

WORLD UNIVERSITIES FORUM HIGHER EDUCATION AWARDS

2011 World Universities Forum Higher Education Awards: Accepting Nominations

The World Universities Forum is accepting nominations for its Higher Education Awards. These three awards — for Best Press, Best Policy, and Best Practice — recognize the most significant higher education achievements of 2011. Award recipients will be invited to attend the 2012 World Universities Forum where they will receive their awards. Awardees will also be recognized in the WUF program, press releases, and other forms of publicity.

Best Press: The Best Press Award recognizes outstanding journalistic reporting in 2011 on higher education topics. Nominees may be higher education news stories from any form of media, and any media outlet, provided the intended audience of the reporting extends beyond the confines of narrow academic or policy specializations. The Award will be granted to the individual(s) instrumental to the creation of the news story.

Best Policy: The Best Policy Award recognizes the most significant higher education policies of 2011. Nominees may include innovative and/or far-reaching policies established on institutional, local, national or international levels. The Award will be granted to the individual(s), group(s), organization(s) or institution(s), etc. instrumental to the formulation of the selected policy.

Best Practice: The Best Practice Award recognizes the most significant higher education practices of 2011. Nominees may include, for example: innovative curricula, research projects, student services, etc. The Award will be granted to the individual(s), group(s), organization(s) or institution(s), etc. instrumental to the achievement of these practices.

To submit your nomination, please fill out the nomination form (note: nominations must be submitted by 18 NOVEMBER 2011).

The 2010 World Universities Forum Award for Best Practice in Higher Education

The 2010 WUF Award for Best Practice in Higher Education was presented to the University of the Free State, South Africa. This award recognizes the most significant practices implemented in the year prior to the WUF’s annual meeting and the University of the Free State’s implementation of ten interlocking “innovations” is certainly worthy of such recognition.

These innovations sought to transform the University in the face of “racial division, student failure and academic stagnation.” Through the use of a ten-point plan, the innovations promoted campus-wide racial integration among students, reinvigoration of academic culture through the hiring of new faculty, nurturing of the most promising young scholars, and sending more than seventy first-year students to top American universities to assist their development into “non-racial” campus leaders. The undergraduate curriculum was revised to promote a cross-disciplinarity approach to key societal problems; and to raise both academic standards and support. Open access to campus leadership was facilitated through sessions with the vice-chancellor, providing opportunities for public discussion between senior leadership, staff and students. The University extended this spirit of dialogue internationally through the inauguration of International Advisory Council of key thinkers and practitioners. Perhaps the most innovate step was the identification of twenty of the most dysfunctional high schools in the province and the building of relationships with those schools. This university-school partnership is based on a strict contract of reciprocal commitments to increase the chances of black children attending university.

The University of the Free State’s ten innovations demonstrate the profound impact higher education practices can have when they are well conceived and implemented. We applaud these innovations and the ways in which they promote racial harmony, student success and overall academic vitality.