University shortlisted for Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community and Outstanding Support for Students
Edinburgh Napier has been shortlisted in two categories in this year’s prestigious Times Higher Education Awards.
In the Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community category, our ‘CanMove’ programme was nominated for engaging with the local cancer community to address unmet physical and psychological needs through a programme of evidence-based exercise.
Our Law department’s ‘Legal City Challenge’, designed to get access to local firms for students who might be missing out on internships due to their backgrounds, and ‘Building An Inclusive Programme’ project, aimed to raise aspirations and remove perceived barriers to the profession among BAME students, have been recognised in the Outstanding Support for Students category.
The University will go head-to-head for honours with other universities from across the UK at a virtual awards ceremony on November 26.
The Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community award is for an individual, team or institution that has made the most imaginative attempt to aid the wider community socially, culturally or economically.
CanMove has had more than 70 people referred or who have directly enquired. Of those, 50 have proceeded to the initial triage meeting.
For many cancer survivors, treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy lead to chronic/late appearing side effects such as fatigue, cardiorespiratory and muscular weakness and depression. These can have a profound effect on quality of life.
There's now convincing evidence that being active at all stages of the cancer journey can provide significant physical and psychological benefits.
The programme was established by Anna Campbell (above), Professor in Clinical Exercise Science. Her area of research is the field of exercise oncology and she has been instrumental in the implementation of evidence-based exercise programmes for people affected by cancer across the UK and internationally.
The project also benefits Edinburgh Napier students. For example, the professional qualification of a Level 4 CanRehab cancer exercise specialist is embedded in the postgraduate MSc in Clinical Exercise Science.
Our shortlisted entry in the Outstanding Support for Students Category recognised that our law students are not necessarily reflective of the profession. Our Law department was determined to turn this on its head through an innovative two-pronged approach: a “Legal City Challenge” and “Building An Inclusive Programme”.
Our law students are overwhelmingly state schooled, female and don’t have the family connections to the profession generally enjoyed by those who have attended private school or Russell Group universities. Meanwhile, BAME students made up 29% of our 2018/19 law intake – the largest proportion in Scotland.
The Legal City Challenge allowed students to learn the skills and attributes valued by firms, and see their learning in practice - a practical foot in the door. Meanwhile, Building An Inclusive Programme led to one student winning the Anderson Strathern Legal Practice Award, giving her an internship in a major law firm, and boosting her confidence as a young, black Scottish woman who had been told at school she would only ever work in a shop.