National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE)
Call for nominees for 2025 NTFS and CATE awards
The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) and the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) are organised and run by Advance HE.
The NTF Scheme celebrates and recognises individuals who have made an outstanding impact on student outcomes and the teaching profession in Higher Education (HE). The Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) recognises and rewards collaborative work that has had a demonstrable impact on teaching and learning and highlights the key role of teamwork in higher education.
The NTFS and CATE are amongst the highest profile awards in the UK sector for innovation and practice in Higher Education learning and teaching. The awards are highly competitive with only a relatively small number of colleagues and teams from across the sector being awarded a NTF or CATE each year.
UHI has had success at these awards in 2021, 2022, and 2024 since entering for the awards for the first time in 2021.
UHI colleagues interested in finding our more about NTFS and CATE can visit the LTA SharePoint pages
2025 UHI Nominees
The UHI internal panel process selected one team and one individual who have submitted applications to Advance HE for consideration for the CATE and a NTF.
"The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) is honoured to be nominating colleagues for Advance HE's national Teaching Excellence Awards for 2025. Commencing when we first entered the awards in 2021, the opportunity to invite colleagues to be considered, and then identifying and working with our nominated individuals and teams, has been critically important in bringing to the fore and sharing excellent and innovative practice within, across and beyond our geographically distributed, federated university partnership. For a number of our colleagues to have then received awards in both the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence categories has been an honour and privilege, and a significant enabler in the further development, sharing and recognition of practice.
This year, for the 2025 awards, we are nominating Alex Walker, Head of Academic Practice Development in the NTFS category, and we are nominating UHI's Library Practitioner’s Group for the CATE award. In nominating Alex, we are celebrating her work in leading an integrated range of professional development, peer support and professional recognition activities and opportunities that support staff across the university in enhancing learning, teaching and related academic practices, and which in their delivery role model and immerse staff in creative and effective approaches to digitally enabled learning. In nominating the Library Practitioner's Group, we are celebrating the rich, multifaceted work they do to ensure a high quality, technologically innovative library service for students and staff across the multiple Academic Partners, campuses and regional study centres that comprise UHI. In addition to the news of their nominations for NTFS and CATE being an opportunity to share their excellent practices, we will be working with Alex and the Library Practitioner's Group in the coming months to further share and learn from all that they do."
Professor Keith Smyth, Dean of Learning, Teaching and Students
Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE)
The UHI Library Practitioner's Group were nominated because with representation from across the academic partner library services, their collaboration has led to significant impact for both staff and students. This collaboration and impact is demonstrated through the collective strategic decisions made by the LPG to positively impact the library service offerings that utilise technology, are equitable and have resulted in exceptional student satisfaction as evidenced through student surveys, analytics, and through staff and student testimonials. Furthermore the teams commitment to self-development and sector engagement ensure all members are able to offer their own expertise and knowledge to benefit the wider team and the library services offerings. The LPG exemplify the impact that cross-partnership working and collaboration can positively have in learning, teaching and research at UHI.
"The UHI Library Practitioners’ Group (LPG) is delighted to be nominated for the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE), recognising the team’s dedication to enhancing student learning and academic support. In recent years, the service has undergone significant transformation, reflected in the increase in National Student Survey scores from 69% (2016) to 87% (2024). Library services are now deeply embedded in the learning and teaching process.
The CATE submission process has been a valuable opportunity to reflect on our progress, showcasing collaborative achievements while identifying areas for further development. Our mentors have played a key role, offering guidance and insight that strengthened our submission. This recognition highlights the impact of the LPG’s commitment to ensuring UHI students benefit from accessible, high-quality library services regardless of location." Richard Hughes, University Librarian
National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS)
Alex who is Head of Academic Practice Development with the LTA, was nominated on the basis of her pedagogically innovative, immersive, staff-centred and inclusive approaches to academic professional development and recognition. Alex has demonstrated her impact across UHI through her work to establish inclusive routes to recognition for staff through the institutional scheme ALPINE, including Advance HE Fellowships, CMALT and Teaching Excellence Awards. Harnessing communities of practice that include developing scholarship and championing equality were all commended by the internal selection panel. Alex's commitment to self-development including in relation to mentoring, research and education has led to the development of a partnership wide Mentoring Scheme and development provision that utilise technology and showcase emerging practices through the LTA Programme of events. Alex's impact reaches beyond UHI with international research collaborations and external representation on networks to support colleagues across the sector in developing teaching excellence in HE.
“I am thrilled to be a UHI nominee for the NTFS this year. I have really enjoyed the process of reflection needed to curate this application. This has included considering my career and pivotal moments that have developed my passion for inclusive and equitable approaches to professional development, recognition, mentoring and scholarship. I value the communities of practice and networks that have been developed with colleagues both internally to UHI and externally to share knowledge and develop practice. These communities support colleagues to engage in opportunities that recognise their excellence and impact and develop their practice in learning and teaching. I feel fortunate to have been able to collaborate with great colleagues and have impact at UHI and externally to benefit the development of teaching, learning and scholarship.”
2024 winner
2024 winner
Michelle Beattie, Senior Lecturer, PGR Coordinator, Centre for Rural Health Sciences, UHI Executive Office
“I am surprised and delighted to have received the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme. I have always felt passionate about teaching quality improvement as I believe it can make a difference to healthcare, and ultimately outcomes for patients. It is super to have my enthusiasm and commitment recognised. Quality improvement aims to reduce error and improve value, and our curriculum aims to equip undergraduate student nurses with the skills and knowledge to create the next generation of change agents. Similarly, the quality improvement masters module enables postgraduate students across the health and social care sector to combine their experience with the methodology to conduct improvement projects in their workplace. Many of these projects have impacted positively on health services as well as the wider dissemination through conferences and publications.”
“Although this is an individual award, I would like to acknowledge my retired colleague and mentor who has continually challenged and developed my quality improvement thinking, Brian James. The impact of some of this work in practice is also testament to the commitment of the students to pursue change, even during challenging times.”
Professor Keith Smyth, Dean of Learning and Teaching at UHI, expressed support for Dr Beattie's award, stating: “It is an honour to celebrate Michelle’s recognition as a National Teaching Fellow. Michelle's pedagogically innovative and pioneering practice, grounded in the development and application of quality improvement methodologies, has enriched nurse education nationally. Through her work in directly linking the curriculum to practice, she has significantly enhanced nursing practice and healthcare provision in multifarious ways.”
“A key part of UHI’s mission is to support the development, growth, and wellbeing of the region and communities to which we belong, and the people and sectors within them. Michelle’s educational work and the resulting impacts of this are exemplary in reflecting the ethos, nature, and purpose of UHI, and indeed of Higher Education that is focused on transformative experiences and public good.”
2022 Winners
2022 Winners
2022 Winners Announced!
On 4 August Advance HE announced the winners of the 2022 National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE). Fifty-four new NTFs were awarded along with 16 winning CATE teams.
We are delighted to announced that Dr Leah Macaden, Senior Lecturer in Nursing and Lead for Internationalisation has been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship (NTF).
Leah said of her win:
The National Teaching Fellowship (NTF) Scheme celebrates and recognises individuals who have made an outstanding impact on student outcomes and the teaching profession in higher education within the UK. I believe that high quality nurse education delivered with passion and commitment transforms lives and societies. Education is a vital investment for future workforce development and a critical solution to our rising health and social care challenges particularly around the care of older adults. I am delighted to receive this national recognition for my contributions in this area of nurse education and join the NTF community.
I would highly recommend academic colleagues at UHI to pursue this exceptional opportunity both for professional development and bilateral knowledge exchange on best teaching and learning practices with colleagues from across the UK.
Alison Johns, Chief Executive, Advance HE said:
Congratulations to each and every new National Teaching Fellow and CATE team on this fantastic achievement.
At Advance HE, we run the prestigious NTF and CATE awards for the UK higher education sector with enormous pride. The challenges of offering an outstanding teaching experience in recent years have been very demanding, but the sector has risen to the challenge.
The full list of 2022 NTFs and CATE winners is below:
2022 winners of the National Teaching Fellowship.
2022 winners of the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence.
LTA Blog post: Celebrating Teaching Excellence at UHI...Again!
2021 Winners
2021 Winners
We are delighted to announce that Lois Gray as a National Teaching Fellow (NTF) and the university's Applied Music Team has won a collaborative award for teaching excellence (CATE).
Professor Todd Walker, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of the Highlands and Islands, said:
"I am delighted that Lois and the applied music team have been recognised in these prestigious national awards. This is the first year we have entered, thanks to the coordination and support of our Learning and Teaching Academy, and we've been told it is exceptional to have been successful in both categories. The awards are held in high regard in the sector and demonstrate our commitment to excellence in learning and teaching. It's fantastic to be commended for the impact our colleagues are having on our students."
Lois said:
"I am delighted and honoured to receive this national teaching fellowship award. With teaching being such a fulfilling occupation, I feel gratified to find that the work I do naturally to prompt my hard-working students to give their best is worthy of such a prestigious award. I couldn't have achieved this without the support of my colleagues who have embraced my sometimes rather speculative ideas and strived to make my programmes as inclusive, attractive and rewarding as possible. This award will allow me to share my ideals and scaffold my aims to provide a new work-related degree for those who deserve, but may have previously lacked opportunity, thus preparing the next generation of engineers for the fourth industrial revolution."
Anna-Wendy Stevenson, programme leader for the university's BA (Hons) applied music degree, said:
"Collaboration is central to all our lives - as educators and members of society - and is a core skill within our subject area of music. It is wonderful to celebrate our work with the prestigious collaborative award for teaching excellence and have our team recognised for their passion in developing and connecting the many communities we serve through higher education."
Alison Johns, chief executive of Advance HE, added:
"I am delighted to congratulate the 2021 NTFS and CATE awardees on their achievements. This year marks the 1000th national teaching fellowship award. Over the years, each and every NTF has made an impact on the sector - both on the students they teach and on their fellow teaching staff who look to them for inspiration and guidance."
"It's also very gratifying to see the quality of teamwork represented this year - the CATE awards really have become part of the sector landscape. Teamwork has been especially important in the past year with the challenges for teaching and learning as a result of social distancing and in the autumn we will publish case studies highlighting this excellent collaborative effort. I am sure that institutions will value these examples as we start to return to the best of in-person teaching complemented by excellent online delivery."
"Well done to each and every awardee on this outstanding achievement."
Alex Walker, Professional Development and Recognition Lead LTA has written this blog to celebrate all the university nominees and wins.
A full list of winners can be found on the Advance HE webpages.