This page describes how we check quality assurance arrangements of higher education in Wales.
What it is
Institutional review is the means we use to review how effectively higher education institutions in Wales manage the quality and standards of their academic provision from 2009-10. Reviews take place on a rolling programme and are carried out by a team of five reviewers.
A report is published on each institution’s review. The reports contains judgements on whether or not confidence can be placed in the institution's own quality assurance systems. They also contain features of good practice and recommendations for further action. As part of our Welsh Language Scheme, all reports are published in English and Welsh.
How it works
The members of review teams all have recent experience of academic management and quality assurance in UK higher education. The teams look at information provided by the institution and by its students, and then visit the institution over a week where they meet with staff and students.
The team also uses standard reference points, known as the Academic Infrastructure. The Academic Infrastructure acts as a tool for setting a minimum threshold of expectations across the UK and includes:
- the Code of practice
- subject benchmark statements
- the frameworks for higher education qualifications
- programme specifications
- Progress Files
- guidelines on the accreditation of prior learning
Detailed information
You will find more detailed information about Institutional review in the following documents:
- Handbook for institutional review: Wales (Second edition)
Please note that one correction was made to the Handbook on 3 March 2010. On page 51, the date the review report is published now reads ‘plus 24 weeks’. - Institutional review: a guide for student representatives (PDF)
- Mini guide: a brief student guide to Institutional review (PDF)
Other information
Developmental review of
higher education delivered in further education institutions: Wales
Guidelines
for higher education institutions in Wales for effective practice in
examining and assessing in a language other than the language of tuition
Access to higher education
Our work in Wales
Outcomes from Institutional review
As part of our enhancement work, we have published a short series of Outcomes from Institutional review papers, which draw upon the findings of the Institutional review reports. The series covers 12 reviews undertaken in Wales between 2004 and 2009.
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