QUT is celebrating three awards for two projects in the prestigious global Wharton-QS Stars Reimagine Education competition.
QUT’s innovative STIMulate project won a Gold Award for “presence learning” and was the Gold Award winner in the Oceania Regional awards. STIMulate is an initiative of the Library, in the division of Technology, Information and Learning Support.
A bronze award went to Professor Larry Neale from the QUT Business School for “nurturing employability” through the Google Online Marketing Challenge.
QUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) Professor Suzi Derbyshire said the Wharton-QS Stars Reimagine Education Awards were a global competition for educators who found ways to remove barriers to optimal learning.
“We are delighted QUT was so well-represented in this highly competitive, international award program,” Professor Derbyshire.
“The success of these teams is testimony to QUT’s commitment to enabling generations of highly educated and highly employable, problem-solving graduates.”
The STIMulate program which took out the gold awards is an innovative support for learning program dedicated to enriching student success in Science, Technology, IT, Engineering and Maths (STEM) at QUT.
“STIMulate is unique because all students, not just those requiring remedial support, can access it,” Professor Derbyshire said.
“It supports learning in all disciplines across QUT’s six faculties and three campuses.
“Support is delivered through drop-in sessions with 160 volunteer student Peer Learning Facilitators (PLFs) and specialist assistance from nine academic staff who give one-on-one and group support that is responsive to student needs.”
STIMulate also recently received an Australian Award for University Teaching for Programs that Enhance Learning and was shortlisted for an AFR Higher Education award under the category of Learning Experience.
The Bronze award won by QUT Business School is for nurturing employability through the Google Online Marketing Challenge which QUT’s Professor Larry Neale has collaborated on since its inception eight years ago.
Professor Neale said the Challenge was perhaps the world’s largest university student marketing competition, which aimed to develop students’ digital marketing skills.
“It’s a group-based, experiential learning activity in which student teams around the world are given US$250 in online advertising credit to develop and run real online search marketing campaigns for actual businesses using Google AdWords,” Professor Neale said.
“Students get a real-world experience that sets them apart as job-ready graduates.”
Since 2008, Professor Jamie Murphy (the originator of the Challenge) from the Australian School of Management, and Professor Neale have collaborated with Google and colleagues around the world to improve the competition, including expanding it to 16 languages, incorporating AdWords certification options, and adding a competition for social impact in the charity and not-for-profit sector.
Media contact: Niki Widdowson, QUT Media, 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au
After hours: Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au
