About QAA

QAA has more than 100 staff working in our offices in Gloucester and a further 16 staff in our offices in Glasgow.

Our core business is to review and report on the performance of providers of higher education in regard to standards of awards and quality of provision.

We do this by working with higher education institutions to define academic standards and quality. We publish guidance material and help institutions to develop their procedures by providing areas of good practice within institutions. The Academic Infrastructure – our means of defining academic standards – is widely accepted as the authority on academic standards in higher education.

We carry out and publish reviews against these standards, reporting on the performance of institutions.

In addition, we have a key role in advising governments on applications for the grant of degree awarding powers and university title - undertaking reviews of applicants and making recommendations.

We play a significant role in informing others of, and contributing to, international development in the quality assurance of higher education. We also manage the recognition scheme related to the Access to Higher Education qualification.

QAA was established in 1997. We were formed through the transfer of functions and staff from the former Higher Education Quality Council and the quality assessment divisions of the higher education funding councils for England and Wales.

Our work is financed through two main sources of income: subscriptions paid by individual universities and colleges, and contracts with the higher education funding bodies and government departments.

Further information about the work of QAA, the role of the Board of Directors and the nature of our reviews can be found at www.qaa.ac.uk