University celebrates Argyll student’s national award

Argyll College UHI student John Frace was named as the university student who has made an Outstanding Contribution at this year’s Herald Higher Education Awards.

University student John Frace, more widely known as @TravellingTabby was amongst the individuals honoured. He created Scotland’s Coronavirus Tracker website whilst studying an HNC in digital design and web development at Argyll College UHI and is now currently in his third year studying for a Business and Management BA (Hons).

Described as an “excellent” project by the judges, the Scotland/UK coronavirus tracker website has attracted 1.5 million users and has a Twitter following of over 22,800 followers, including Professors Devi Shridhar, Jason Leitch, Linda Bauld, and the First Minister.

On receiving the award John said:

"This is a huge honour, it’s a bit overwhelming, and I want to thank everyone who’s supported the page. I’m so glad I’ve been able to help out and provide some clarity during this awful year. I have received countless messages from people saying how the page has helped to ease their anxiety or make informed decisions for their family, which makes me so happy to hear.”

The university was also shortlisted in the category of ‘outstanding business engagement in universities’ for their design of their LevelUp! programme in collaboration with XpoNorth.

The programme delivered by the Careers and Employability Centre, provided creative students with practical career and employability support to help them to gain confidence and build resilience, aiding their navigation through the impact of a global pandemic on the creative sector.

Nicola Smith, Head of Careers and Employability said:

“It was a real honour to been shortlisted for an award. Our partnership with XpoNorth helped us to quickly respond to the needs of employers, learners and our communities and we are really proud that 90% of students that participated in this programme felt better informed about the creative industries and their future career options. We are also delighted that plans are underway for the programme to be scaled up in the next academic year.”

Alex Smith, XpoNorth project management executive said:

“As long-standing partners of the University of the Highlands and Islands we’re excited by the progress we’ve made collaborating to help students to develop the skills required to succeed in the creative economy. From music, publishing and craft, to textiles, digital, design and broadcasting to name just a few, the creative industries offers an exciting and rewarding career path. We are delighted to have been recognised by the Herald’s Higher Education Awards as a finalist and look forward to building upon LevelUp!’s successes to date.”