A male and a female student walk together on campus. They are smiling. There are trees in the background.

TEF Gold for Liverpool

The University of Liverpool is delighted to hold the Gold TEF award for our outstanding performance in student experience and outcomes.

We've been awarded TEF Gold

The University of Liverpool is proud to be awarded Gold, the highest possible award, in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). This award recognises our excellence in student experience and outcomes.

Achieving the Gold rating recognises the University of Liverpool among an elite group of 46 higher education providers in the UK. Here are just a few reasons why we’re recognised as the Gold standard (we’ll get to even more later):

Our undergraduate courses have continuation and completion rates of over 95%
Undergraduates gain practical employment experience
We offer a uniquely wide range of undergraduate courses and subjects
Students engage in world-changing research projects
We heavily invest in services to support students during their studies.

What is the Teaching Excellence Framework?

A female student wearing safety goggles and a lab coat works in a lab.

TEF is a national scheme run by the Office for Students (OfS). It encourages universities and colleges to improve and deliver excellence in the areas that students care about the most: teaching, learning and achieving positive outcomes from their studies.

TEF's assessment looks at:

Teaching on undergraduate courses
Learning resources
Approaches to supporting student success
Continuation and completion rates
Progression rates
Research, innovation, scholarship, professional practice and employer engagement
Staff professional development and academic practice.

The TEF panel then awards one rating for the student experience and one for student outcomes.

How are TEF ratings decided?

The TEF panel, which is made up of independent academics and students, conducts assessments and makes decisions on a number of criteria based on the information it is provided. It uses these insights to decide which award each university should be given.

The panel considers evidence submitted by both institutions and their students, as well as numerical indicators that are determined by using national datasets. These are benchmarked to show how well the university or college performs based on the students it teaches and the courses it offers.

What does TEF Gold mean?

A male student works in a lab with equipment. He is wearing safety goggles and a white lab coat.

TEF assesses lots of areas of a university’s offering, so it’s not easy to be awarded Gold. That’s why we’re extremely proud to have achieved this prestigious marker. To get the Gold award, student experience and outcomes must be deemed to be typically outstanding.

TEF Gold universities, those that achieve the highest rating, are considered to be consistently performing at an exceptionally high standard in the areas that matter most to students. A TEF Gold rating could be an important factor in a student choosing where they want to study, as it is a trusted mark of quality.

Why is TEF Gold an important award?

Three female students sit at an outside table on campus. They are smiling and looking at a phone together.

TEF Gold is important because it’s all about giving confidence to the most important people in higher education - students. The Teaching Excellence Framework showcases which universities nationwide offer excellent teaching and learning for students. It also encourages those that aren’t achieving top scores to prioritise improvement to the experience they offer students.

If you’re a current or prospective University of Liverpool undergraduate student, the TEF Gold award means you can be certain that when you study at Liverpool, you’ll get access to outstanding teaching, support, and graduate prospects. When you see the TEF Gold badge, you can trust that we provide an engaging student experience for our students and an extremely high quality of education across our undergraduate courses. Our students also feel supported throughout their time with us and are set up to succeed as graduates as they move into their careers after Liverpool.

Why is Liverpool the Gold standard?

A blonde female student takes a book from a shelf in a library.

Professor Tim Jones, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool, perfectly sums up why Liverpool is the Gold standard. "Our Gold rating in TEF 2023 underlines our commitment to world-class teaching and learning, with teaching delivered by leading experts and research-connected curricula across our courses. Employability is embedded throughout our undergraduate programmes, and our graduates enjoy high employability rates”.

The TEF panel considered several different areas when awarding Liverpool the prestigious TEF Gold rating. Below, you can find some of the key areas where they decided our offer was outstanding.

Employable graduates

Two students sitting together at a desk, working on a laptop and with a text book.

Our Careers and Employability team advises students on course modules, learning outcomes and assessment. We also embed employability modules into all courses. Half of our undergraduate students choose to take at least one of these.

Students also have access to employers at every stage of study. What’s more, nearly half of our undergraduate courses are accredited by one of 129 professional, statutory and regulatory bodies.

Many of our undergraduates also have the opportunity to undertake a Year in Industry. This means they gain substantial professional experience, which prepares them for the future and entering exciting careers.

Nearly 85% of our students say that “as a result of studying at the University of Liverpool, I believe that I have improved my future prospects”.

Support for students

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We’ve increased our investment in support for students by over £4.75 million. This has allowed us to enhance our central team. They work with faculty-based Learning and Teaching Support Officers to provide invaluable help to our students in a number of vitally important areas:

Money and finance guidance
Visa and immigration information.

Always diverse and inclusive

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We successfully widen access to higher education. Nearly 20% of our student body is made up of students from the most deprived areas in the UK.

As part of our Access and Participation Plan, which supports widening access to higher education and student retention, we offer more than £10 million in scholarships and bursaries every year. This includes targeted funding for asylum seekers, care leavers, mature students, Black African and Caribbean heritage applicants.

Support doesn’t end there. For example, groups who face known barriers to education are supported with a programme of bespoke activities before Welcome Week. This includes commuter students, disabled students and mature students. These activities are designed to enable all students to get the most out of university from day one.

Global vision

We are a university community with substantial international reach. Our alumni span over 180 countries and we have established our place among the 200 leading universities globally.

Our international role is intrinsically linked to Liverpool. We harness our global reach to contribute to the city region’s international profile, boosting its economy and creating meaningful connections between the region, alumni and partners worldwide.

The University has a partnership Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) in China. Our XJTLU 2+2 programme brings around 2,500 Chinese students to Liverpool every year. It also provides an exciting opportunity for UK undergraduates to spend a year in China.

Our Global Opportunities programme is one of the most expansive in the UK. We provide options for undergraduate students to study abroad, reaping life-changing benefits.

Research-intensive

A female student in a royal blue lab coat looks into a microscope.

We aim to make a difference to the world we live in through research and innovation. Our research collaborations extend worldwide and address many of the challenges facing mankind today. The University of Liverpool is part of the internationally renowned Russell Group of 24 UK universities, recognised for their world-leading research.

Our undergraduates are encouraged to engage with this ground-breaking work. They’re expected to immerse themselves in departmental research culture throughout their studies and research informs every aspect of teaching. Further research opportunities are also provided through vacation studentships.

What's next?

A male wears his graduation cap and gown. He stands facing his mother. She is looking at him and holding his face. She is smiling and wearing a Hijab.

Although we’ve achieved TEF Gold, we will keep building on this success to ensure students continue to receive an outstanding education and experience.

Vasiliki Samuels, former President of the Liverpool Guild of Students, says, “we’re really pleased that the University of Liverpool has been awarded Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework. Working on the student submission was a great opportunity to involve student feedback directly in the process. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the University, expanding on good practice in the institution, as well as continuing to amplify the student voice and improve the educational experience”.

Tim Jones, Vice Chancellor, agrees. He says, “we’ll be making sure we keep up the hard work to continue to give our students the best possible experience and help them to achieve their individual goals”.