Oldham graduate Mark aiming for top UK award

Date published: 10 December 2018


An Oldham graduate has been nominated for a British Education Award.

The awards promote excellence in British education and celebrate individuals who have excelled within the UK education system.

Mark Barrow, from Saddleworth, graduated with a First Class Honours degree in History with Journalism at Bangor University earlier this year.

The former Oldham Sixth Form College student earned a mark of 84 per cent.

He came top of his year and won the Dr John Robert Jones Prize, awarded annually to the best students across all subjects at the university.

He has now been nominated for the national award and will go to the ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester on Thursday 31 January 2019.

Dr Nikolaos Papadogiannis, a lecturer in Modern and Contemporary History at Bangor University, nominated Mark.

He said: “Mark was an exceptional student and his performance in all the modules he has attended was outstanding.

“He won three academic awards at his graduation.

“In addition to the overall prize, he won awards for the highest dissertation score within the school and the highest overall score.

“Mark was outstanding in terms of his collaboration with his fellow students: he was among the students who treated the viewpoints of others with respect, even when his disagreed.

“He actually encouraged other students to participate.”

Mark, 22, is currently the University’s Students’ Union Vice-President for Education.

He said of his time as a student: “The school where I studied was excellent.

“Pastoral support was better than you’d expect, with academics always being on hand to help, support and provide guidance to students.

“I really enjoyed my course. There has been a diverse range of modules and assessments, and that is so vital in terms of gaining experience of transferable skills.”