RNCM Wins 2016 Times Higher Education Award

The RNCM has won the Outstanding International Student Strategy title at the 2016 Times Higher Education Awards for its Read with the World project.

Now in their 12th year, the THE Awards are widely recognised as the Oscars of the higher education sector, shining a spotlight on the outstanding achievements of institutions, teams and individuals working in UK higher education.

l-r Professor Linda Merrick (Principal), Richard E Grant, Tatyana Yekimova (Head of International Relations), Caroline Browne (Founder and CEO, Password English Language Testing) and Jean Ammar (English Language Support Tutor)

Professor Linda Merrick, RNCM Principal, said: ‘We are all absolutely thrilled to have won the 2016 award for Outstanding International Student Strategy, our second consecutive THE win.

‘The project was devised for students at the College who have now taken ownership and developed it further. I am so pleased that it has been recognised in this way.’

Read with the World – which has already won two previous awards – is designed to help international students at the RNCM develop their language skills and cross-cultural competencies by using a buddy scheme and a series of graded reading books. The College pairs international and home students in a book-pal system, where students choose a book from the graded scheme in the RNCM Library and arrange to meet regularly to discuss what they have been reading.

RNCM English Language Support Tutor, Jean Ammar, said: ‘I am delighted that we have won this fantastic award. Our work is centred on providing the very best support for our international students while helping them to feel part of the RNCM family.’

2016’s THE Award winners

Witnessed by more than 1200 guests, the award was presented at a black-tie ceremony at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, last night (24 November), hosted by Richard E Grant. All winners were chosen by a panel of judges including Alison Johns, Chief Executive of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, Joanna Newman, Vice-Principal (International), King’s College London, and Malia Bouattia, President of the National Union of Students.

Talking of Read with the World, the judges noted that it is ‘a wonderful example of a simple and imaginative idea that is scalable and replicable in other institutions.’  They added that the project ‘goes beyond a simple buddying scheme by providing structure and content for building friendships that help create a greater understanding of each other’s background and lead to a richer environment in classroom and campus.’

This is the second THE Award the RNCM has won to date. In 2015 the College picked up the Excellence and Innovation in the Arts title for After the Silence: Music in the Shadow of War.  

25 November 2016