Teaching and Learning Award 2026

Teaching and Learning Award 2026

The ENLIGHT Teaching & Learning Award recognises a course or programme that has implemented innovative, international pedagogical approaches and/or learning practices related to the educational aims of ENLIGHT. The award should be seen as a celebration of the best teaching practices within the ENLIGHT network as well as an opportunity to show sincere gratitude for those putting extra effort into the education they provide.

The award will be presented during the Teaching & Learning Conference, hosted by the University of Bern from 22 to 24 October 2026.

Each ENLIGHT university can nominate one course for the award. The nominees are courses rather than individuals, so the entire teaching team of a course can be nomitated. The winner will be known as “ENLIGHT's Course of the Year”, with two runners-up recognised as well.

The courses should show the use of the ENLIGHT Educational Principles in their design and execution. Each institution is responsible for their own internal selection process. Please contact your ENLIGHT coordinator if you have any questions or want to submit a course.

All nominations must be submitted by 30 May 2026.

Criteria for the 2026 Award

Relevance to ENLIGHT educational principles

See below (ENLIGHT Education Principles)

Replicability in the ENLIGHT community

To what extent can the course/programme, or parts thereof, be replicated by another teaching team within the ENLIGHT-network?

Innovative approaches to student involvement

To what extent are students involved in:

the planning process of the course/programme?

the execution of the course/programme?
the evaluation of the course/programme?

ENLIGHT Education Principles

Transdisciplinarity

Courses involve collaboration with teachers of different subjects. Students gather and apply knowledge and perspectives from different disciplines and expertise in order to investigate a defined challenge. 

Collaboration with external stakeholders

Collaboration with external stakeholders to tackle current challenges. 

Research oriented teaching

Teaching students to raise scientific questions, formulate problems and find solutions to research questions, drawing upon a wide range of research skills. 

Intercultural and international learning

Interaction with students from various countries with different cultural backgrounds and academic knowledge. 

Versatility

Scientific knowledge is united with transversal skills such as intercultural awareness, inclusive leadership, and multilingualism. 

Challenge-based education

Students work on real-life challenges that can be provided by academics, external stakeholders or students. The aim is to develop, implement and test solutions in authentic, real-world contexts.

You can read more about how ENLIGHT promotes the development of skills required to shape and thrive in our future societies in the ENLIGHT Competence Framework. 

Contact

Organiser: events-enlight@unibe.ch
IT Help: helpdesk@onlineexpo.com