UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment launches consultation on review of Quality Code
The UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment (UKSCQA) has published a consultation on the review of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education. It encourages responses to the review from across the sector.
The growing number and diversity of higher education providers means that the UK Quality Code is of wider interest than ever before. Proposals for change to the existing Code are made in the context of regulatory change across the UK and reflect the entire higher education sector.
The consultation on the review to the UK Quality Code seeks feedback on a proposed set of simplified expectations that will give clear guidance to the higher education sector on maintaining standards and ensuring the quality of the academic experience for students.
Providers of all types are being encouraged to engage with the consultation and have their say on the future shape of the Code via an online survey. Responses to the consultation should be submitted by midnight on Wednesday 13 December 2017.
Professor Andrew Wathey, Chair of the UKSCQA, said:
"These proposals streamline the UK Quality Code and strengthen its focus on student success, maintaining the Code’s UK-wide character while accommodating regulatory developments in the four nations. The co-ownership of the Code, between sector bodies and funding bodies, makes it important that change is informed by the fullest possible range of stakeholders’ views."
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) is coordinating responses to the consultation on behalf of all members of the UKSCQA.
Douglas Blackstock, the QAA’s Chief Executive, said:
“The UK Quality Code is renowned internationally as a leading and comprehensive framework for quality and standards. In this latest evolution, focussed clearly on outcomes for students, we are setting the agenda that will keep higher education across all nations of the UK ahead of our international competition.”
UKSCQA partners welcome the publication of the consultation and the opportunity for the higher education sector to respond to its development.
Alistair Jarvis, Chief Executive of UUK, said:
"The UK Quality Code is an essential tool that gives universities, students, employers, funders and regulators - across the UK and internationally - confidence in the high quality of UK higher education. This consultation represents an important opportunity to refresh the Code, including its clarity and focus on academic standards and student outcomes, and to ensure it continues to support the work and success of the sector."
Gordon McKenzie, Chief Executive of GuildHE, said:
"The UK Quality Code has long been the glue underpinning the UK higher education system, giving confidence to students and employers and providing assurance of the comparability of quality and standards across the four nations of the UK. The Code was developed by and for the sector by the QAA, in the spirit of co-regulation, and the consultation will ensure that the Code remains fit for purpose for the future."
Notes to editors:
- The UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment provides sector-led oversight of higher education quality assessment arrangements that continue to be shared across the UK, including the UK Quality Code. The committee was set up in 2016 with members drawn from publicly funded universities and colleges and from those providers designated for student support by the Secretary of State in England. Student interests are represented by both the National Union of Students and individual student members. Membership is also drawn from the four UK higher education funding bodies, sector bodies and regulatory partners. For further information on UKSCQA, see ukscqa.org.uk
- For more information on the existing UK Quality Code, see http://www.qaa.ac.uk/assuring-standards-and-quality/the-quality-code
- For any queries about the UKSCQA, please contact Jessica Bacon on j.bacon@hefce.ac.uk
- For any queries about the consultation on the review of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, please contact Catherine Kerfoot at QAA on c.kerfoot@qaa.ac.uk
