Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education
The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education are a biennially awarded series of prizes awarded to universities and colleges in the further and higher education sectors within the United Kingdom. Uniquely it forms part of the British honours system, to date rounds have occurred in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023.
The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education recognise outstanding work by UK colleges and universities that shows quality and innovation and delivers real benefit to the wider world and public through education and training. The Prizes are the highest national Honour awarded in UK further and higher education.
History
The prize is awarded by the Royal Anniversary Trust, a registered charity founded in 1990 to develop a program to mark 1992 as the 40th year of Elizabeth II's reign as British monarch. The program had these four goals:- celebrate the anniversary
- establish an educational award
- promote cultural awareness of the development of the United Kingdom's constitutional monarchy
- to promote commerce, industry, and the advancement of education
The next round of winners will be introduced in Autumn of 2025.
The educational award which the Royal Anniversary Trust established was the Queen's Anniversary Prize. In October 2024 the name of the Prizes scheme changed to the Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Higher and Further Education.
Prize winners
1994
| Category | Winning institution | Winning department or division | Rationale |
| Engineering and Technology | Aberdeen College | Training courses relating to explosion risk | UK's leading academic and research department in its field |
| Environment and Conservation | Bournemouth University | Services to scientific conservation | |
| International Engagement | Burton & South Derbyshire College | Anglo-French collaboration: vocational training for the polymer industry | |
| Education & Training | Chippenham College | Using work experience as a basis for National Vocational Qualifications | |
| Education & Training | City and Islington College | Widening access and progression to higher education | |
| Education & Training | Croydon College | The successful development of flexible learning workshops | |
| Engineering & Technology | Heriot-Watt University | Petroleum Engineering | UK's leading academic and research department in its field |
| Environment | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine | Centre for Environmental Technology | leading player in the development of a Master of Science degree for environmental management |
| Education & Training | Lancaster University | Opportunity for those with special needs | |
| Engineering & Technology | Loughborough University | partnership with the aerospace industry | |
| Medicine, Health & Welfare | Luton Sixth Form College | encouraging student volunteer involvement in health education, especially for HIV prevention | |
| Humanities, Social Sciences & Law, Round 1 Prize-winner, 1994 | Queen's University Belfast | Servicing the Northern Ireland Legal System | |
| The Arts and Creative Industries | Royal College of Art | promoting manufacturing design for the needs of senior citizens | |
| Engineering & Technology | University of Manchester | Research and technology transfer to industry | |
| Education & Training | University of Plymouth | Widening access to education in a scattered rural community | |
| Medicine and Health | University College London | Towards the control of cancer | |
| Science & Mathematics | University of Durham | Improving awareness of sciences and engineering in schools | |
| The Arts and Creative Industries | University of Glasgow | Offering university cultural resources to those outside the university | |
| Science & Mathematics | University of Leicester | Developments in astronomy, space and planetary science | |
| International Engagement | University of London, Wye College | External Programme | Professional development for agriculturalists in overseas territories |
| Humanities, Social Sciences & Law | University of Oxford | Exploitation of intellectual property for wealth creation |
1996
| Category | Winning institution | Winning department, division or project |
| Education & Training | Carlisle College | Educational access throughout life |
| International Engagement | College of North West London | Eastern European Links: expertise and skills transfer |
| Education & Training | Greenhead College | Performance monitoring to realise student potential |
| Science & Mathematics | Hackney Community College | Bringing young women into the sciences |
| Medicine, Health & Welfare | King's College London | Medical law and ethics: teaching, research and public debate. |
| Engineering & Technology | Leeds Metropolitan University | Technology transfer and support for small and medium sized businesses. |
| International Dimensions | Liverpool Hope College | The Ladakh Project: teaching and training in India for Tibetans. |
| Education & Training | Middlesex University | Off-campus learning, training and research for commerce, industry and public services |
| Environment | Queen's University Belfast | Environmental research & training in partnership with industry. |
| International Engagement | School of Oriental and African Studies | International distance learning: economics and finance for senior executives |
| Education & Training | Open University | Teacher training: opening up careers through part-time distance learning |
| Education & Training | The Sheffield College | Braille skills accreditation: providing a new and recognised national qualification |
| The Arts | University of Edinburgh | Music in the community: a course for advanced music students relating to public work in the community. |
| Science and Mathematics | University of Manchester | Biological sciences: multidisciplinary teaching and research. |
| Engineering & Technology | University of Strathclyde | Electrical power engineering: teaching and research. |
| The Arts | London Institute | Paper conservation: teaching and technology |
| Humanities, Social Sciences & Law | University of Birmingham | The Wroxeter Project: archaeology, technology and the community. |
| Medicine, Health & Welfare | University of Exeter | Diabetes and vascular health education and research: microvascular processes and associated work. |
| Medicine, Health & Welfare | University of Hull | Social work: consultancy, teaching and research. |
| International Engagement | University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology | Technical education. technology transfer and academic and trade relations with Japan |
| Medicine, Health & Welfare | University of Oxford | Molecular medicine: collaborative research and transfer of results. |
| Engineering & Technology | University of Surrey | Engineering for the space industry: teaching and research for satellite operations. |
| Science and Mathematics | University of York | Computer science: teaching, research and transfer of technology. |