Ex-poly scoops prizes

British business has acclaimed Oxford Brookes University as the most innovative teaching and learning institution in the country.

This week it became the first institution to scoop three prizes in this year's annual Partnership Awards. English former polytechnics have dominated the competition in its seven-year life though the universities of Salford and Wolverhampton have won the most prizes.

Oxford Brookes won the Partnership Trust prize for architecture and planning, the GEC Marconi prize for engineering and the Partnership Trust prize for professions supplementary to medicine. Its MA/diploma course in urban design, was judged "refreshing" in how it welcomed students from disciplines other than architecture and planning.Its vacation programme for A level students called "a taste of technology - an experience for women". Some 24 prizes were offered, sponsored by businesses, including Apple Computer, British Petroleum and the Woolwich Building Society. Only 21 were awarded, and English former polytechnics Brighton, Coventry, Greenwich, Kingston, and Liverpool John Moores predominated. Wales had three winners, Scotland two and Northern Ireland one.

Gillian Shephard, Secretary of State for Education and Employment, said at the prizegiving ceremony, that the awards, in their last year, had served their purpose because "partnerships between higher education and industry are now part of the mainstream".