Northumbria shines in Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

Northumbria University has achieved a silver rating overall in the 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) thanks to the inspiring teaching and research-rich education experienced by the students, and the outstanding range of opportunities this creates.

The University's Student Outcomes were awarded a gold rating for being "outstanding”, while its Student Experience was judged as "very high quality" attaining a silver award.

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

In determining an institution’s Student Outcomes rating the OfS looks at students on higher education courses who continue their course, graduate, and go on to further study or find a professional job – all areas that Northumbria has excelled in over the past decade, notably:

More than 60% of Northumbria graduates who enter employment in England do so in the North East, with more Northumbria graduates entering highly skilled employment in the region than from any other university.

The University has supported the creation of over 300 businesses, employing more than 1,000 people and having a combined annual turnover of £102.8m. Northumbria has been ranked in the top 10 for the last 14 years, and top 5 in 11 of those years, for the Estimated Turnover per Annum of Graduate Start Ups - figures based upon HEBCIS 21/22 results.

Over 7,000 students per year complete a live project or clinic-based module at Northumbria designed to give students a taste of real-world employment experience - with significant activity in all four university faculties.

Commenting on the publication of the University’s TEF rating, Professor Andy Long, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Northumbria University, said:

“Securing an overall silver rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), and a gold for Student Outcomes is a tremendous achievement and has once again highlighted how Northumbria is an institution that truly makes a difference to students’ lives.

“This underlines the University’s commitment to unlocking opportunities for students with potential and ability, irrespective of background.

“A Northumbria education aims to ensure that the support students receive on our programmes, along with the guidance provided outside the classroom, offers them the best opportunity to succeed and thrive in their life ambitions.”

As well as this latest TEF result, Northumbria has experienced significant success in recent years, including an outstanding performance in the Research Excellence Framework (REF2021), elevating the University’s research power ranking to 23rd whilst also continuing to support social mobility, in particular by recruiting and supporting students from areas traditionally under-represented in higher education.

Northumbria was also named Times Higher University of the Year for 2022 and the University is currently ranked among the UK top 40 in The Guardian and Complete University Guide league tables.