How do you celebrate excellence in higher education?

The most important thing that I learned, as editor of the THE World University Rankings for over a decade, is that there is no one single model of excellence, and no single "correct" ranking: rankings must embrace the great diversity of excellence in the world and reject a one-size fits all model. The "gold standard" THE World University Rankings use 17 separate performance metrics across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook - but we must be clear they are designed for research-intensive, globally focused universities. We have developed different rankings with different metrics, for different missions and priorities. Our impact rankings measure a university's social and economic impact, framed around the UN SDGs.

People working in higher education and those who are working for higher education are one of the most hardworking, resilient, and passionate people I have seen. Excellence is a broad term and different areas, goals, and factors may shape different perspectives and definition of it. However, each step of the process should be celebrated along with a final victory. Also, if things don't work the way we want, lessons learned from those experiences are still valuable. So, overall, excellence is about expectation from yourself first and then the standard criteria that has been set for everyone.

Excellence in higher education can be defined in many ways, depending on the different roles people play. For enrollment management, excellence may be measured in the number of applications, the yield of accepted students, and retention and graduation rates. For people in the athletics department, excellence might lie in recruiting stats, NCAA compliance, wins and titles, and graduation rates for athletes. For administrators, excellence might be revealed in operational and financial metrics. And for faculty, excellence might be demonstrated in student evaluations, research and publications, successful grant applications, and academic and community partnerships. There are many roles in any organization; pick the right metrics for each.

Multiple metrics across several domains define true excellence, including societal (i.e. case study narratives) and scientific (i.e. citation metrics) impact, and international integration (read: global collaborations).

Recognizing and celebrating excellence in higher education is crucial for inspiring educators and students. Trends include awards, social media showcases, and tech integration like virtual ceremonies. There's also a shift toward fostering continuous improvement through feedback, ensuring achievements serve as learning opportunities. This celebration cultivates a positive environment, encouraging innovation, dedication, and a steadfast commitment to academic success, shaping a dynamic and forward-thinking educational landscape. By embracing these trends, institutions propel a culture that thrives on excellence and adapts to the evolving needs of students and the broader educational community.

In my experience, it is a mistake to rely on an annual ceremony to recognize outstanding performance. For a robust, vital culture of celebrating excellence, weave opportunities for recognition into the week-to-week routine of your organization. If employees and managers have ways of giving little “shout-outs” to people who go above and beyond, or just do their job really well, the culture of the organization will be much better. An “employee of the year” award is important, but a cup of coffee, a write-up in the newsletter, an email to everyone broadcasting good performance, a mention at the start of a meeting - all these can have a big impact. And sometimes, just looking someone in the eye and saying thank you can have the biggest impact.

Recognition is really vital to keep the excellence record , without real recognition most likely people lose track by time. Recognition can also be formal or informal, also materialistic, verbal or written. From bonuses , grants, or promotions moving to certificates, medals , gifts and prizes, to celebrations , thank you letters or even a simple verbal thank you.

At Times Higher Education we're extremely proud to have developed, during the pandemic, a free, peer-to-peer, community resources sharing platform for all in higher education: "Campus". Campus relies on academics and administrators worldwide sharing their expertise and sharing best practice resources, in an open, collaborative space. While it is a wonderful and altruistic exercise for our contributors, we are delighted to see key contributors gaining respect and recognition (and a bit of fame) worldwide for their best resources. It's a fantastic ecosystem.

At The EdUp Experience Podcast, we celebrate higher education excellence by interviewing college and university Presidents on our Presidents Series. By tapping into how today's C/U Presidents think about leadership and innovation while putting students first is how excellence is discovered for a wider audience. Passionate leaders catalyze passionate students moving to become part of society and the workforce. Excellence in higher education is about building students' self-confidence and inspiring staff and faculty to think toward the future.

It should be shared by any means the employers have , whether it is social media platforms or general letter to all staff , etc. Moreover , it should be executed professionally , not just some random words in a letter or a post with a foggy picture and that`s it !

One of the ways we've tried to celebrate the accomplishments of students is through our International Alumni of Impact Program. This program is designed to celebrate the positive impact and contributions of former international students in Canada. Last year, we had the privilege of awarding 10 former students for their leadership, generosity, resilience and innovation in their time since graduation. Success comes in so many forms. This program allowed us to celebrate, CEOs, chefs, entrepreneurs, police officers and more. The impact these individuals made was so unique, but the common denominator they shared was their education. I'm excited for these folks to empower the next generation of international leaders.

I've found that celebrating educational excellence is more than just recognizing the highest grades or the most innovative research. It's about acknowledging every step that leads to those achievements and the unique journeys of all students. We can highlight individual progress and achievements with personalized learning tools, fostering an environment where every student feels valued and motivated. The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 is an excellent example of celebrating excellence in higher education and assessing students' educational gains due to their studies. This approach encourages institutions to focus on teaching quality and student outcomes rather than traditional success metrics.

To boost morals for those who havent earn any gift , bonus , raise or even a thank you letter, as they didn`t achive the needed excellence yet ! We have not to forget while celebrating success , that we have so many successful candidate waiting to be forged by supporting them and showing them the needed tools to achieve excellence like their peers. This also decrease any kind of grudge of hard feelings among peers at work.