The University of Buckingham wins Outstanding Collaboration Award
4 December 2024
The University of Buckingham has been awarded the ‘Outstanding Collaboration Award’ in the Independent Higher Education Awards 2024.
Held on 26 November, the awards ceremony celebrated excellence in the independent higher education sector. The University was awarded for pioneering its innovative interdisciplinary learning event: ‘The Major Incident’, as part of its MB ChB Medicine programme.
The event, which has also been commended by the General Medical Council, provides third-year medical students with a broad understanding of managing major trauma events. Students work collaboratively with emergency services as well as other parties in a situation as close to real life as possible, allowing them to see how teams interact and respond in these situations.
Professor Joanne Selway who leads on the event at the University said: “We are delighted to have won the award for Outstanding Collaboration. This achievement is a testament to the incredible teamwork and partnership that went into creating an innovative and impactful learning experience for our students. The exercise brings together faculty members, students, emergency services, and local community stakeholders, emphasising the power of collaboration in preparing future healthcare professionals for real-world challenges.”
Pro-Vice Chancellor Academic and Provost, Professor Harriet Dunbar-Morris commented: “Congratulations to Joanne and the whole team at the Medical School on this outstanding achievement. This award recognises our mission to empower and inspire individuals through excellence and innovation in teaching and learning, as we continue to promote inter-professional education to students from The University of Buckingham and beyond.”
About the Major Incident
The first major incident exercise was scheduled in 2017 as a week-long course, culminating in a simulation of a structural collapse in a building. In 2018 and 2019 it evolved to a plane crash, and a fire on a boat in a harbour.
Following Covid, the major incident exercise was re-launched in 2022 with a simulated road traffic accident, which was repeated in 2023, but with 30% more students. In 2024 a rail accident was simulated and a road crash involving a car and a minibus. Next year will involve a bus crash.
An established network of partners whose expertise is drawn upon to help make this training happen, including Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service, Rapid Response Medical Group, South Central Ambulance Service, Thames Valley Police, Buckinghamshire Council and Bucks New University.
In 2024 around 150 MB ChB Medicine students were involved in ‘The Major Incident’, developing the skills they have been learning in the classroom and to build in aspects of complexity and uncertainty, which is a key requirement of the General Medical Council.
Alongside this, Content Creation, Digital Media and Journalism students roleplay and produce post-event stories which also form part of their assessed work. Also, in a cross-university initiative with the University of Bedfordshire, make-up artist students are engaged in moulage work with the large population of actors that act as casualties.
Find out more about studying Medicine at The University of Buckingham on the MB ChB Medicine course page.
For media enquiries, contact: pressoffice@buckingham.ac.uk
Photo credit: Guy Traynor