Arqus Teaching Excellence Awards

The Arqus Alliance awards teaching which is particularly successful in enabling students from different backgrounds and of different levels to learn through research and to take an active part in research.

The teaching projects should tackle relevant research questions and contribute to current societal issues – theoretically or practically. They should also foster gender-sensitive education and eliminate gender stereotypes.

A strong connection between research and teaching can be targeted in many different ways. Courses that promote research-based teaching and learning and actively involve students as junior researchers are particularly considered “Arqus Teaching Excellence Projects”. The Arqus Alliance is also very interested in how learning processes have been reflected during the course and how students’ feedback has been integrated and used for the improvement of learning experiences and teaching methods.

We value especially teachers who are particularly committed to the students and highly motivated to support students in achieving their learning goals. Well-used methods of team-teaching and strategies for integrating an interdisciplinary approach are also taken into account for the teaching award.

The Arqus Teaching Excellence Award for enabling students directs attention to local practices that contribute to the development of teaching and learning in increasingly complex university settings.

It acknowledges that subject-specific activities conducted in teaching, learning and assessment have considerable influence on how students develop as learners, thinkers and doers. It also acknowledges the value of connecting local practices across institutional, national and cultural borders.

Nominees for the award can be either individual instructors or collegial communities, who stand out by providing substantial support to develop students’ ability to cope with the challenging intellectual and academic demands they face, and to develop their sophistication as learners within their academic disciplines.