Arts University Plymouth wins Kindness in Education Award

Arts University Plymouth has won a Kindness in Education Award 2023, recognising the arts university’s collective work to build a kinder and more compassionate university and an inclusive community for staff and students.

Professor Paul Fieldsend-Danks, Vice-Chancellor for Arts University Plymouth, collected the award on behalf of the university at Kindfest 2023. The Kindness in Education Award was awarded by TeamKind, a community interest company powered by volunteers who believe that kindness can change the world and that right now kindness is needed more than ever.

Professor Paul Fieldsend-Danks said: “It was a privilege to accept the Kindness in Education Award on behalf of Arts University Plymouth and we’re very happy to see the changes that we’re making within our community being recognised in this way.

“Arts University Plymouth was awarded University Title in May 2022, becoming the UK’s newest arts university, and we’re determined to do things differently. We believe that authenticity, fulfilment and kindness are indexical qualities in the process of thinking, making and living. Education is the act of turning students towards the world that they live in, to inspire students to want to exist in and care for the world, and to act with kindness as both a method and a means to enact change and deliver positive outcomes.”

“At every level of Arts University Plymouth, we’re working to embed kindness into our decision-making processes, our community and our daily lives. We’re on a journey together and I hope that in time every staff member and every student will see kindness as something to be celebrated and encouraged. In an increasingly polarised world, we want our students and our colleagues to know that they belong to a community where compassion is one of our core values.”

The work that Professor Paul Fieldsend-Danks leads was nominated for the Kindness in Education Award by Jenny Evans, a Lecturer in BA (Hons) Fashion Media & Marketing and BA (Hons) Textile Design at Arts University Plymouth.

Jenny said: “My colleagues at Arts University Plymouth are among the kindest group of people who I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. It’s a pleasure to work at a university where my own values are reflected in the strategies that lead our work and encouraged by my colleagues. I’m proud that we can offer a tolerant, inclusive and welcoming environment for our students and that we’re empowered to support them in approaching their studies and creative practices in the spirit of compassion. Put simply, we’re working together to do what we can to make the world a better place.”

The Kindness in Education Award is the latest in a series of notable achievements for Arts University Plymouth since becoming the UK’s newest arts university in 2022. Arts University Plymouth was recently awarded Silver in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) by the Office for Students (OfS), recognising that experiences and outcomes are typically of very high quality for all groups of students.

Students voted Arts University Plymouth as the top arts university in the UK for overall student satisfaction in the National Student Survey (NSS) 2022, and rated the university above the national benchmark in all categories and the highest scoring arts university in the UK in five of the seven categories of the NSS 2023. Arts University Plymouth also achieved Silver in the Small or Specialist Institution category of the Whatuni Student Choice Awards in 2023 and Gold in the same category in 2022. The university is currently ranked as a top 10 university in the  Arts, Drama & Music League Table 2024 in the Complete University Guide, and as the sixth top university in the UK for studying Interior Design in the Guardian University Guide 2024.