QAA has conducted a series of enquiries in response to public concerns about higher education raised in the media. This is known as ‘Thematic enquiries into concerns about academic quality and standards in higher education in England', with the support of, and funded by, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
The work has focused on five areas:
- student workload and contact hours
- English language requirements for international students
- recruitment practices for international students
- the use of external examiners
- assessment practices.
Find out more about the background to the project.
Findings
The final report suggests that there are some areas which would benefit from further work:
- the range of contact hours appropriate to the student learning experience
- guidance offered to international students about UK higher education and the support arrangements that international students should expect from higher education institutions
- processes used to identify, train and support external examiners
- the assessment and degree classification practices used by higher education institutions
- effective ways of informing the general public about academic standards and quality in higher education and the ways they are assured.
Recommendations
QAA will be recommending to its Board and HEFCE that further work is undertaken by QAA and its partners to determine how these areas can be addressed.
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