Canterbury Christ Church University wins Award for Excellence

The annual UCISA Higher Education Award for Excellence, sponsored by Eduserv, has been won this year by Canterbury Christ Churst University for its innovative iBorrow scheme.

The Award aims to recognise and highlight excellence and best practice from UCISA members within the UK higher and further education sectors. The winning institution receives a price of £5,000.

The iBorrow scheme enables users of the university's new Library and Student Services Centre to borrow a notebook computer as easily as picking a book from a shelf. The thin-client notebooks have location-aware technology and enable students to access a full range of software and learning resources. The location information, combined with wirelessly received data on students' use of electronic resources, provides the university with valuable insight on usage, which will help inform the design of new learning spaces.

Dr Keith Gwilym, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Learning & Quality) at Canterbury Christ Church University said:

"[The] University is delighted to have won this year's UCISA award for excellence. The iBorrow project has been a great success for the University and winning this award is a reflection of the innovation and hard work put in by the project team."

Christine Sexton, Chair of UCISA, who also chaired the judging panel, adds:

“The project clearly meets a business need by providing access to laptop technology to a university population where laptop ownership is not common.”

Stephen Butcher, Eduserv's Chief Executive, comments:

"The consideration of staff time as an important cost to be addressed helped make the case for a project that is already realising benefits."

Find out more about the UCISA Awards for Excellence.

Visit the iBorrow scheme website.