The Times Higher Education Award results

On Thursday 25th November 2021 at London’s Hilton Metropole Hotel, Times Higher Education hosted the ceremony for their coveted Times Higher Education Awards. 

The awards, nodded as the ‘Oscars of Higher Education’, attracted a record-breaking number of nominations from across the higher education sector. 

Seventy-eight institutions and teams were in the running across 20 categories, with the nominees shortlisted from a bank of almost 600 entries, and for the first time in their 17-year history, institutions in the Republic of Ireland were eligible for entry alongside their UK peers. 

This year, we partnered with Times Higher Education to sponsor the award for Outstanding Library Team.  

Kortext’s CEO, James Gray at the Times Higher Education Awards 2021

Throughout the pandemic, praises have been sung for unsung heroes, but overlooked by many, is the hard work and dedication of librarians in higher education settings.  

 When the pandemic closed campuses, the spotlight focused on librarians for the continuity of courses. Institutions were relying on their resilience and ability to source learning content essential to allow lecturers to teach and students to learn. Working tirelessly, many librarians succeeded in this task, delivering an incredible amount of content to their institutions.  

The shift to eTextbooks was already emerging, but was accelerated by the pandemic. A survey conducted by Kortext found that in the last 12 months, almost 87% of librarians said that their eTextbook spend had gone up, supporting the shift to a digital-first approach.   

 At Kortext, we believe in giving students access to essential content anytime, anywhere and it’s definitely in the nature of librarians to do the same. Their reaction to the pandemic and the speed at which they were able to adapt and overcome is something that we think deserves to be celebrated.    

It gives us great pleasure to announce the winner of this year’s Outstanding Library Team award is…

University of the Arts, London for their impressive reaction during the pandemic and beyond. To read a snippet of their nomination, click here. 

Congratulations!

Do join us in congratulating all other shortlisted nominees for their efforts. Every name on the shortlist deserves a massive round of applause.