Madeleine Atkins, Chief Executive, HEFCE delivered this presentation at a Universities UK members' meeting on 5 December 2014

1. The future of quality
assessment
UUK Members’ Meeting
Madeleine Atkins
Chief Executive, HEFCE
Woburn House
5 December 2014

2. Some Questions for 2025
• 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?

3. Important principles for QA in 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?]

4. Current internal co-regulation mechanisms
• 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

5. Examples of current external 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

6. The current QA mechanisms
• The Quality Code and Subject
Benchmarks
• Concerns procedure
• Higher Education Review
(HER) every six years

7. What might the sector look like in 2025?
• 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

8. Some Questions for 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?

9. Timetable for conducting the review
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

10. Stimulating discussion
• 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

11. What is happening in the meantime?
• 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

12. How to find out more
e-mail
Qualityassessmentreview@hefce.ac.uk
Twitter http://twitter.com/hefce
web-site www.hefce.ac.uk
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