Higher Education Technical Excellence Award

The Higher Education Technical Excellence Award (previously the Higher Education Technician of the Year) is for individuals or teams demonstrating exceptional contributions to technical support within the HE sector.

General information

• Run annually 
• The winner receives £2000, a medal and a certificate 
• The award winner will be chosen by the Education Division Awards Committee

Guidelines for nominators

• Nominations open on 01 October
• Nominations close on 15 January
• Both RSC members and non-members can nominate for this award
• Self-nomination is permitted for teams
• Individuals may not nominate themselves
• Nominations should be for those working in technical support roles within the HE Sector
• Individuals or teams may be nominated
• The award is open to nominees based in the UK and Republic of Ireland only 
• There are no age restrictions associated with this award
• When nominating previous RSC prize or award winners, please remember that a person cannot be awarded twice for substantially the same body of work    

To make a nomination please use our online awards nominations system to submit the following:

• Your name, contact details, and membership number (please contact the RSC Membership team if you do not know your membership details)
• The nominee's name and contact details
• One page supporting statement (up to 4500 characters for individual nominations and 7500 for team nominations, not including spaces) addressing the selection criteria below 
• One page CV for the nominee (no longer than one side A4, 11pt text), which should include a summary of education and career (not applicable for team nominations).
• A short citation describing what the nominee should be awarded for. this must be no longer than 250 characters (not including spaces) and ideally no longer than one sentence. 
• Names and contact details of two referees, who could provide a reference for the nominee. The referees do not have to be RSC members.    

The RSC reserves the right to rescind any Prize or Award if there is reasonable grounds to do so. All nominators will be asked to confirm that, to the best of their knowledge, there is no confirmed or potential impediment to their nominee receiving this prize/award related to their professional standing. Our Professional Practice and Code of Conduct can be referred to as a guide on expected standards.

Selection Criteria for RSC Awards

Our selection committees base their evaluations primarily on the overall quality of relevant contributions made by nominees and not simply on quantitative measures.

The selection committee(s) will consider the following aspects of all nominations for scientific research Awards as appropriate:

• Professionalism - including reliability, organisational skills, accuracy, precision, consistency of approach and competency
• Contribution - including roles played in team and examples of team working 
• Achievement  - including outstanding skills and expertise in the role, examples of inspiring colleagues, co-workers, students (at all levels) and similar
• Development - including examples of personal development, that of colleagues and co-workers, identification of training opportunities and similar for the team, its members, and where appropriate, the organisation as a whole
• Personal Attributes - including examples of enthusiasm about the subject and their role(s) within it, communication skills, and, where appropriate, leadership skills. Where appropriate, examples of how nominees or teams have provided 'inspirational', 'innovative' and/or 'creative' contributions and similar are encouraged    

Guidelines for Referees

• The awards system will contact referees to inform them that they must provide reports (of up to 4500 characters, not including spaces) by 31 January.
• We will contact nominators and referees of nominees with outstanding references after one week after close of nominations on 15 January once only.
• Referees must state their relationship (if any) with the nominee and note any conflicts of interest.     

Education Division Awards Committee

• Simon Lancaster, University of East Anglia (Chair)
• Sheeba Viswarajan, University of East London
• Sarah Hayes, University of Limerick
• Dylan Williams, University of Leicester
• Trevor Carey, University College Cork
• Susan Weavers, Newham Collegiate
  

History of the Award

The Higher Education Technical Excellence Award was re-named in 2017 from the Higher Education Technician of the Year Award.