Association of Colleges

The AoC Beacon Awards recognise and commend exemplary initiatives (which can be programmes, courses, projects or other forms of teaching, learning, advice, guidance or support).

New projects or initiatives which have not completed a full cycle of implementation so that evidence of outcomes is unavailable will not be eligible for consideration

Awards take the form of monetary grants of, on average, £5,000 which will be awarded on the clear understanding that the total monies will be set against expenditures incurred taking forward the development of each winning initiative.

Colleges are defined as institutions which were incorporated under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (the Act).

Awards are designed at the discretion of the sponsors as UK Awards or as Awards for Colleges in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

It is a condition of entry that each College gaining an award undertakes to inform its community about its achievement and about the support and interest provided by the sponsor. It should also undertake to inform the sponsor of how the Award money was used.

It is expected that within approximately six months of the announcement of the award, the winning College will organise a Local Presentation Ceremony in consultation with the sponsor to allow for maximum media coverage. The AoC Beacon Awards office should be advised of the arrangements.

Winning Colleges will be asked to present a seminar at the AoC Annual Conference on their project and its benefits to learners.

Award winning Colleges are permitted to use the AoC Beacon Awards logo with the year of the programme beneath it on College headed paper, promotional material etc.

A summary list of Awards, their sponsors and the geographical focus of each appear here.