The Royal College of Pathologists won the International Collaboration of the Year award last night at the Times Higher Education Awards 2016, held in association with Santander Universities. The awards, now in their twelfth year, 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.  

The Royal College of Pathologists’ winning entry was a laboratory training programme, designed to build capacity and improve the standards and quality of pathology diagnostic and laboratory medicine services in sub-Saharan Africa through skills training, knowledge transfer, leadership development and mentoring.

Rosy Emodi, International Manager, The Royal College of Pathologists said: 
“This is an enormous achievement for the College as we are the first medical Royal college to be nominated and win a THE award. It acknowledges the importance of working in partnership to improve global health outcomes and is a fitting recognition of the enormous amount of hard work that went into this complex, challenging and rewarding project.“

The project, LabSkills Africa, was a multilevel partnership with: the British Division of the International Academy of Pathology; the College of Pathologists of East, Central and Southern Africa; the East, Central and Southern African Health Community; as well as country partners in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi and Stellenbosch University in South Africa also worked with the college to develop and implement a curriculum and training programme.

The initiative was piloted in 20 public-sector laboratories in five countries between 2013 and 2015, creating 100 trained laboratory healthcare professionals and leading to improvements in the quality and accuracy of diagnostic tests and the professional relationship between pathologists, scientists and technologists.

Furthermore, 70 per cent of the laboratories reduced their turnaround times by an average of 20 per cent, while a foundation for the development of a regional laboratory improvement network has been established.

There are already plans to implement the model in Nigeria, South Sudan and Myanmar.

The judges said the collaboration was “inspiring” and the project has “already made a difference to a population of more than 110 million people, improving the quality of laboratories to improve mortality rates and provide better treatment”.

The black-tie event took place at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in London, and was hosted by actor Richard E. Grant. Over 12,000 guests – including the great and good of the higher education sector as well as shortlisted teams from institutions across the UK – gathered to celebrate the extraordinary talent, creativity and resourcefulness of our universities.

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.

John Gill, editor of THE said: “The spirit of relentless improvement, of competing but also working together for the greater public good, will be vital for our universities and the country in the months and years ahead. Universities face major challenges as a result of Brexit, but as can be seen from the extraordinary group of winners this year, the THE Awards serve as a timely reminder of just how strong they are as a group: “world class” is a cliché, but an apt one in this case”.

The list of this year’s winners is as follows (full details can be viewed here):

• University of the Year - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Entrepreneurial University of the Year - London South Bank University
• Most Innovative Teacher of the Year - Sara Wolfson, Canterbury, Christ Church University
• Outstanding Digital Innovation in Teaching or Research - University of Leeds and Leeds College of Art
• Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development - Royal Holloway, University of London
• Business School of the Year - Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde
• THE DataPoints Merit Award - University of Surrey
• Outstanding International Student Strategy - Royal Northern College of Music
• International Collaboration of the Year - The Royal College of Pathologists
• Outstanding Support for Students - University of Wolverhampton
• Outstanding Contribution to Innovation and Technology - Nottingham Trent University
• Widening Participation or Outreach Initiative of the Year - University of Winchester
• Most Innovative Contribution to Business-University Collaboration - Dairy Crest, in collaboration with Harper Adams University
• Most Improved Student Experience - Ulster University
• Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year - Alys Young, University of Manchester
• Research Project of the Year - University of Salford
• Excellence and Innovation in the Arts - University of Central Lancashire
• Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community - Edge Hill University
• Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative - Liverpool John Moores University
• The Lord Dearing Lifetime Achievement Award - Lord Sainsbury of Turville

 

Notes:

• For more coverage of the awards, profiles of the winners, and photos from the evening, please visit www.the-awards.co.uk, pick up a copy of THE at newsagents from 1 November, or go to www.timeshighereducation.com. 
• Photos from the evening are available to view and download on the THE Awards 2016 Flickr album.