quality assurance: update & future directions

QUALITY ASSURANCE:UPDATE & FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Anthony McClaran

Chief Executive, QAA

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Session outline 10.30 Refreshments, followed by welcome (Jon

Renyard)

10.45 Presentation (Anthony McClaran)

11.15    Q&As following presentation 11.35           Break-out groups

12.10  Group feedback and discussion

12.35                 Closing remarks 12.45      Lunch

Presentation

i) Update on QAA

ii) The UK dimension

iii) Higher Education Review: a more risk-based approach to quality assurance

iv) Internationalisation

Followed by Q&As

QAA TODAY

Some of QAA’s main UK activities today:

Review and audit programmes for universities, further education colleges and alternative providers of higher education

Adviser to Privy Council on applications for degree-awarding powers and university title

Provider of Educational Oversight, on behalf of UK Border Agency, for ‘Highly Trusted Sponsor’ status for independent providers with overseas students

UK Quality Code for Higher Education

THE UK DIMENSION

SCOTLAND

Enhancement-Led Institutional Review 3 (2012-2016):

Review judgements – ‘Effectiveness’ now replaces ‘Confidence’

Annual monitoring

2014 referendum

International Enhancement Themes Conference, Glasgow (11-13 June 2013)

WALES

Further & Higher Education (Wales) Bill expected later in 2013

QAA Development Review of Foundation Degrees

Revised Institutional Review (2012-13)

QAA office presence in Wales

QAA 2013 Annual Reception at The Senedd, Cardiff

NORTHERN IRELAND

New higher education strategy published in April 2012 – ‘Graduating to Success’

QAA to work with DELNI to introduce a single quality framework by 2016

'The Department will

continue to support QAA

in reviewing

the quality of HE

provision in

Northern Ireland...'

ENGLAND & THE REGULATORY PARTNERSHIP GROUP

A COMMON UK FRAMEWORK

A UK-wide framework of quality assurance Applied to all providers in the higher education

market Adapted in different countries Recognising the value of enhancement

“All UK higher education, irrespective of how it is funded, should be underpinned by the same

quality assurance framework.”

HIGHER EDUCATION REVIEW:

A MORE RISK-BASED APPROACH TO QUALITY

ASSURANCE

THEMES EMERGING FROM HEFCE CONSULTATION RESPONSES

Building on existing Institutional Review method

Reducing unnecessary burden and achieving better regulation

Greater transparency

Tailoring reviews to individual circumstances

Continued emphasis on enhancement

Students as full partners in the process

KEY OUTCOMES FROM HEFCE CONSULTATION

Six or four year interval between reviews

Publication of a rolling programme of reviews

Review of all provision in a single exercise

End of mid-cycle follow-up reviews

Tailored intensity of individual review according to provider track record

Consideration of nationally published data

Greater weight to PSRB reports

ENHANCEMENT & STUDENTS AT THE CENTRE

Continued focus on enhancement:

Student learning opportunities Thematic element of review Sharing good practice

Students remain at the heart of the quality assurance and review process

ABOUT HIGHER EDUCATION REVIEW

Will be offered to:

QAA subscribers in England and Northern Ireland

Providers with access to funding from HEFCE or DELNI who are

not subscribers to QAA

Higher Education Review will be launched in the next academic year (2013-14) and will succeed two current review methods:

Institutional Review in England and Northern Ireland (IRENI)

Review of College Higher Education (RCHE)

FOCUS OF THE QAA CONSULTATION

Areas of judgement

The new Initial Appraisal stage

Proposed pilot introduction of international reviewers

Judgements about ‘Managing Higher Education with Others’

Determining review intensity

Using professional support staff as reviewers

Future evaluation of the new method

CURRENT TIMETABLEDate Activity

28 Jan – 22 April 2013

QAA holds consultation on Higher Education Review Handbook

May 2013 Handbook published

Summer 2013 onwards

Institutional briefings and reviewer training

Autumn 2013 Implementation of the new method

Early 2014 First reviews begin, under the new method

2015-16 Independent evaluation

INTERNATIONALISATION

OVERSEAS STUDENTS IN THE UK

TRANSNATIONAL EDUCATION (TNE)

Students studying wholly overseas:

72,025 students within the EU

431,565 outside the EU

Source: HESA  

FUTURE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS & CHALLENGES

2013: publication of EU strategy for internationalisation of higher education

Shaping the development of higher education internationally

Safeguarding quality, standards and the global reputation of UK higher education

Ensuring robust processes and adequate funding for future transnational education quality assurance

Being well-placed to take advantage of future opportunities (for example, membership of EQAR – European Quality Assurance Register)

‘Government supports foreign student recruitment by promoting the UK HE abroad and activity to assure the UK's world class reputation for education and research.

‘Quality in higher education is assured through the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education which reviews and reports on how well UK HE institutions maintain quality and standards in accordance with the UK Quality Code for Higher Education. This system has a global reputation for success and has influenced parallel developments overseas.’

David Willetts, 22 January 2013

www.qaa.ac.uk

Session outline 10.30 Refreshments, followed by welcome (Jon

Renyard)

10.45 Presentation (Anthony McClaran)

11.15    Q&As following presentation 11.35           Break-out groups

12.10  Group feedback and discussion

12.35                 Closing remarks 12.45      Lunch

BREAK-OUT GROUP QUESTIONSGROUP ONEWhat are the likely impacts of new alternative providers on quality and reputation in UK higher education?

GROUP TWOHow do we ensure that a more risk-based system can still nurture innovation?

GROUP THREETransnational education (TNE) – how could QAA best help to safeguard quality and reputation?

GROUP FOURQAA subscriber services – what should you expect from QAA? What would you like from QAA?

GROUP FIVE Are students now really ‘at the heart of the system’?