The future of quality assessmentUUK Members’ Meeting
Madeleine Atkins
Chief Executive, HEFCE
Woburn House
5 December 2014
• How do we best secure world-leading teaching and learning? And support innovation and flexibility?
• Can one concept of ‘quality’ still hold good? One QA system? For all providers? At all stages of their development?
• How do we still achieve reasonable comparability of degree standards?
• What recognition should we give to QA systems in other jurisdictions? Should HEIs have choice?
• How should we detect and deal with inadequate quality or standards?
Some Questions for 2025
• Recognises the autonomy of HEIs
• Is based on co-regulation
• Works well for different missions
• Enables HEIs to be agile and responsive
• Is risk-based and proportionate
• Is clearly bounded and avoids ‘creep’
• Is affordable
• Is intelligently operated with understanding of the cultures and norms in the sector
• [Others?]
Important principles for QA in 2025
• HEIs’ own approval processes for new programmes
• Regular (eg quinquennial) review of existing programmes including external expert and student inputs
• Frequent review and modification of academic regulations under the single corporate actor principle
• Review of courses against measures of student satisfaction, market demand, disciplinary developments, etc.
• External Examiner system
Current internal co-regulation mechanisms
• The NSS, KIS and DLHE
• PSRBs
• Annual Monitoring Statements
• Financial and governance requirements in the MAA
• Annual data returns and audits
• CUC Code of Practice
• Home Office/UKVI procedures for Tier 4 licence and likely future monitoring for counter-terrorism compliance
• League Tables
Examples of current external mechanisms
• The Quality Code and Subject Benchmarks
• Concerns procedure
• Higher Education Review (HER) every six years
The current QA mechanisms
• Larger: greater diversity of providers, provision and delivery modes
• New forms of internet-based learning
• Stronger demands and expectations from students
• Employers demanding more advanced knowledge, expertise and skills
• New corporate and legal forms. New types of partnership and collaboration
• Financial markets with greater stake
• Presence in several jurisdictions and global delivery as routine
What might the sector look like in 2025?
• What confidence should students expect to take from the QA arrangements?
• What confidence will employers seek from the QA arrangements?
• What assurance should Government and the taxpayer take from the QA arrangements?
• What value should the QA arrangements bring to HE providers?
Some Questions for 2025
Steering Group
Two-phase sector & stakeholder engagement:
• January 2015: initial discussion document
Conferences, themed roundtables, and regional meetings
• Post-election May 2015: Second document with options for consultation
• Further engagement with sector and stakeholders from May to July 2015
• September 2015: QA specification: Funding bodies decide whether, and if so, what to tender
Timetable for conducting the review
• Seeing whether the Finch Report recommendations to strengthen the External Examiner system have been implemented and with what effect
• Discussion piece on QA systems in our major competitor countries
• Discussion piece on QA approaches in other sectors
• Piece of work on the costs and value-for -money of the current QA system
Stimulating discussion
• HEFCE will contract with the QAA for an additional year in 2015-16 to allow time for the review process
• Current quality assessment arrangements will continue up to 31st July 2016
• Institutions scheduled to be reviewed in 2016-17 will be contacted by HEFCE in due course
• Institutions can find their current review date on the QAA website
What is happening in the meantime?
How to find out more
Twitter http://twitter.com/hefce
web-site www.hefce.ac.uk
governance-hefce e-mail distribution list
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