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Quality Assurance. Dr Christopher Stevens Director of Quality and Standards Canterbury Christ Church University. What are we like. Multi-campus University We work with a significant number of academic partners, with whom we collaborate to offer awards and credit
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Quality Assurance Dr Christopher Stevens Director of Quality and Standards Canterbury Christ Church University
What are we like • Multi-campus University • We work with a significant number of academic partners, with whom we collaborate to offer awards and credit • There is an extensive portfolio of provision subject to professional and statutory regulation • The QAA Institutional Audit of May 2005 commended us for maintaining “a strong, collegiate environment across the campuses and partners colleges”
Why have quality assurance • To ensure that the student experience is of an appropriate standard • To maintain the reputation of UK education in general and of the University in particular • To provide the basis for reflection and enhancement
How is this managed • The University’s Academic Board meets four times a year and is responsible is responsible for all aspects of the academic work of the University • The Academic Planning Committeeis responsible for planningUniversity’s academic activities including the structure, • The Quality and Standards Committee oversees policies, principles and procedures considered necessary to maintain and enhance the University’s work • These committees are supported by the work of Faculty Quality Committees and various sub-committees
People • The Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic) chairs key committees and has strategic responsibility for this work • The Director of Quality and Standards, who leads the Quality and Standards Office, has operational responsibility • The Faculties have Faculty Directors of Quality • Heads of Department and Programme Directors ensure that quality is maintained in the Lecture Theatre
Regulations • The University has a set of detailed regulations for the operation of its programmes, especially concerning assessment and examination of students • These are approved by the University’s Academic Board • Academic staff must comply with these
Main activities • Formal approval of programmes • Rigorous use of external examiners in assessment • Annual monitoring of programmes • Periodic review and re-approval of programmes • Periodic review of all departments
Quality Assurance • must further rather than inhibit collegiality • is a collective activity undertaken by all staff • is best undertaken closest as possible to the delivery of academic programmes to students • Must allow, but manage academic diversity
Procedural Guidance • The University uses extensive guidance to ensure that staff understand why regulations and procedures are there and what must be done to implement them • The University is of a view that insistence on compliance without explanation and support is inadequate
Therefore • Quality assurance is something that must reflect the way academics work • Academics want students to have the best possible experience • Academic reflect on what they do and seek to improve • It must be explained • It is not just a set of rules