BOTH Bradford College and the University of Bradford have been awarded in a new “teaching excellence framework,” released this morning.

The college was rated bronze and the University awarded a silver in the framework, which uses an Olympic medal style system to rank universities and colleges based on teaching quality, learning environment and outcomes for students.

The higher education institutions have to meet “demanding national quality requirements” to qualify to be included in the framework, and todays release measures excellence above and beyond this.

Leeds City College, which has a campus in Keighley, was also awarded bronze.

The Framework was introduced by the government to build evidence about the performance of the UK’s higher education sector and a 295 universities, colleges and alternative providers of higher education voluntarily took part with 59 providers rated gold, 116 rated silver and 56 rated bronze.

The ratings were decided by an independent panel of experts including academics, students and employer representatives and using on national data and evidence submitted by each university or college.

Richard Thomas, Provost of Higher Education at Bradford College, said: “We are proud to have met the criteria for quality provision that enabled us to qualify for the TEF.

“We are delighted to note that our bronze award means that we are delivering teaching, learning and outcomes for our students that meet rigorous national quality requirements for UK higher education.

“We welcome the acknowledgement that most of our students achieve good outcomes and that there are high levels of student satisfaction with assessment and feedback.

“We are pleased to note the recognition of our efforts to develop more work placement opportunities, to improve support and develop our scholarship and research activity.

“We remain committed to further enhancing our higher education provision here at the college and to deliver teaching excellence and highly employable graduates.”

The latest statistics for the university show that 93 per cent of undergraduates progress to employment or further studies within six months of graduation.

Professor Brian Cantor, Vice-Chancellor at the university, said: “The outstanding success of the University’s approach to academic, personal and professional development and employability is exemplified by the exceptionally high number of students who achieve highly skilled employment and access to further study.

“This success is the culmination of approaches to learning and teaching that equip students with high levels of critical thinking, problem solving and the ability to work effectively in teams as well as independently. We provide students with transformative and stretching learning opportunities and experiences.”