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Press release

Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills to address QAA Annual reception

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The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills, will today speak at the Annual reception of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) to be held at 18.00 at the Terrace Marquee, House of Commons.

The reception is a gathering of some of the most high-profile figures in the higher education sector and will be used to launch QAA's Annual Review 2008-09.

The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills, said: 'I'm very pleased that QAA's Annual Review confirms that both quality and standards are being maintained at a high level in our higher education institutions. It is of course right that students themselves are at the very heart of this process. Maintaining public confidence in quality and standards is vital, which means communicating clearly how the sector achieves this and how others can contribute to the process. I look forward to seeing the QAA developing its role still further in the coming year as we outlined in Higher Ambitions, the Higher Education Framework. '

Sir Rodney Brooke CBE, Chair of QAA, said: 'This year's Annual reception is my first as Chair of QAA, it is an opportunity to look back at our successes but also to look forward to how QAA will continue to safeguard the public interest in the quality of  higher education.  I am confident that QAA has both the strength and flexibility needed to address the challenges ahead, using its accumulated knowledge and expertise it can continue to help institutions to improve.'

Notes to editors

1. For further information and interview requests please contact:

Richard Tibenham, Public Relations Manager: 01452 557 047 r.tibenham@qaa.ac.uk or
Katie Sharrock, Public Relations Officer: 01452 557 074 k.sharrock@qaa.ac.uk
Matthew Mathias, Public Relations Officer: 01452 557 088 m.mathias@qaa.ac.uk.

2. QAA checks how UK universities and colleges maintain their academic standards and quality. We review and report on how they meet their responsibilities, identify good practice and make recommendations for improvement. We publish guidelines to help UK universities and colleges develop effective systems to ensure students have the best learning experience.

3. QAA has recently launched a discussion paper as part of an evaluation of how the Academic Infrastructure, the collective name for the tools used by UK universities and colleges to set and maintain quality and standards, is working. The discussion paper and details of how to respond are available at: www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/evaluation10. The tools were created to give all institutions a shared framework for setting, describing and assuring the quality and standards of their degrees and other higher education courses.

4. The Academic Infrastructure consists of:

  • The framework for higher education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ) and The framework for qualifications of higher education institutions in Scotland
  • the Code of practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education (Code of practice)
  • subject benchmark statements
  • programme specifications.

Further information on the Academic Infrastructure is available at: www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure.

5. Universities UK, GuildHE, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland (DELNI) are currently undertaking the consultation on the future quality assurance system for higher education in England and Northern Ireland. Further details are available at: www.hefce.ac.uk/learning/qual/future.

 

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