The Evolving Landscape of Quality Assurance in Higher Education

1. Welcome The changing face of quality assurance Hilary Placito (Director of Quality and Academic Support) January 2013

2. ThenNow?

3. What is quality assurance?

4. Key components of quality assurance • Academic standards – setting and maintaining • Quality of learning opportunities • Enhancement

5. Quality assurance – the external environment (1) An ever-changing environment – previously QAA carried out subject level reviews and institutional level audits Inspection Changed attitudes Mistrust Systems put in place Bureaucratic Closing the loop Tick-box-approach Student views Expensive Evidence Time-consuming Equity

6. Quality assurance – the external environment (2) • Alongside audit and reviews the Quality Assurance Agency introduced the various components of the “academic infrastructure” • The Framework for Higher Education Qualification – aligns to Bologna process and the Dublin descriptors • Subject benchmark statements • Programme specifications • The Code of practice • Following a national review the academic infrastructure is now being re-formulated as the UK Quality code for higher education

7. Quality assurance – the external environment (3) What do we have now? • Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) carries out reviews of institutions on a six year cycle, no more subject level review • Continued commitment to review being a peer process not inspection • Greater emphasis on quality enhancement • Greater involvement of students – students are now on the review panel • Transparency • Emphasis on public information • Recent national consultation on a revised method for institutional review – a risk-based approach • National Student Survey (NSS)

8. Quality assurance – the external environment (4) QAA Institutional Review involves : • Production of a Self-evaluation document by the institution setting out how quality assurance works and a Student Written Submission • Two visits to the institution by the QAA review team over a six week period • Meetings during these visits with staff and students • Reading the Self-evaluation document, Student Written Submission and other documents • Assessing from the written and verbal evidence, and judged against the QAA Quality code, whether the institution is managing its quality assurance processes appropriately • Published report – judgements, recommendations and features of good practice

9. Quality assurance – the external environment (5) • What effect does the external quality assurance environment have on us at King’s? • Our own quality assurance systems need to be in harmony with the external environment • Changes to the requirements of the external environment mean changes to our systems • Sometimes this is a simple matter of making adjustments to a process • Sometimes this means introducing a new process

10. Quality assurance – the King’s approach (1) • The College’s philosophy of quality assurance has been to embed it as part of “normal” activity – it is the responsibility of everyone • Quality assurance is best undertaken close to the place of delivery as it engages those involved in the activity and allows it to become developmental

11. Quality assurance – the King’s approach (2) governance and management • King’s operates a devolved structure in which the nine Schools of study operate with a large degree of autonomy – this recognises the diversity of the Schools and the environment in which they operate • Schools have a responsibility to ensure the quality of their own activities but this autonomy has to operate within an agreed framework – this framework is agreed by the committee governance structure • The challenge in such a structure is to ensure an appropriate balance between central oversight and local decision making

12. Quality assurance – key features (1) • Regulatory and policy framework • Process for the approval of new degree programmes which operates at School level • Annual reports from Schools to the College Education Committee • Review of degree programmes at School level every six years for approval at College level • Regulations and procedures for operating assessment with a common scheme for degree classifications • Involvement of External Examiners in the assessment process and use of their reports • Student views on teaching and teachers - Staff/Student Liaison Committees, student feedback questionnaires • Use of student-related data to analyse performance • Induction and development of staff for their role in teaching • Importance also of quality enhancement to make improvements

13. Quality assurance – key features (2) • All the above features of a quality assurance framework are designed to ensure academic standards and the quality of student learning opportunities • Underpinned by an infrastructure in terms of learning resources, information technology and student support mechanisms eg personal tutors, welfare support • The challenge is to fit all the pieces of the framework together as part of a coherent structure so that the evidence generated allows identification of problemsand solutions

14. Programme approval Collaborative provision Assessment policies and regulations Programme review Admissions policies Information for students Use of QAA Quality Code External Examiners’ reports Academic standards Learning opportunities PSRB guidelines Resources for learning Student representation Student support –academic and pastoral Student feedback Student complaints and appeals Annual reports National Student Survey Staff induction, development and reward Analysis of student performance data

15. Current/future challenges (1) • On-going balance between central oversight and local autonomy in quality assurance • Effect of increased tuition fees – are students becoming more demanding in their expectations? • Expansion of student numbers – ensuring that resources can continue to meet the demand and that all students still receive an excellent learning experience • Making better use of technology to support quality assurance processes • Increasing expectations of the professionalisation of academic staff in their teaching role and ensuring appropriate reward structures for teaching

16. Current/future challenges (2) • Increasing collaborative delivery – joint degrees, partnership programmes, study abroad • Diversified curriculum - flexible and distributed learning • Diverse student body • Information explosion • Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)