Learning and Teaching Committee

 

Subject:        Review of the Quality Assurance Framework; Development of TQI and the NSS

1.                  In November 2006, HEFCE published the report of the Quality Assurance Framework Review Group (QAFRG) on phase two of its work, which was concerned with the impacts, benefits and costs of the public information aspects of the QAF and included an evaluation of Teaching Quality Information (TQI) and the National Student Survey (NSS).  The Group’s report makes a number of recommendations to change and improve both TQI and the NSS, which have been fully endorsed by ‘the sponsoring bodies’ (HEFCE, Universities UK and GuildHE).  In particular it recommends re-focusing the TQI site on the needs of prospective students and their advisers, and removing from the site the qualitative materials currently provided by institutions.

 

2.                  As well as setting out in full the Review Group’s report, HEFCE document 2006/45, ‘Review of the Quality Assurance Framework: phase two outcomes’, outlines in broad terms how the Funding Council will implement the changes to TQI and the NSS and the implications for institutions.  The document can be found at

http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2006/06_45/

 

3.                  Key points (see paragraphs 15 – 24 of the document)

 

(1)         HEFCE has appointed UCAS to redevelop the TQI web-site and launch a new site in summer 2007.

(2)         The site will focus specifically on informing prospective students and their advisers.

(3)         The redesign will be overseen by the TQI/NSS Steering Group.

(4)         The new site will publish

HESA data on

-          entry qualifications/tariff points

-          students continuing/completing/leaving without awards

-          class of first degree achieved

-          leavers entering employment/further study

NSS results

Links to QAA reports

Institutions’ commentaries on the data and links to their web-sites (optional)

Institutional-level ‘contextual’ statistics, drawn from HESA data (to be consulted on, see 19 below).

(5)         The qualitative material currently provided by institutions will not be published on the site, namely

Summaries of external examiners’ reports

Summaries of learning and teaching strategies

Summaries of periodic reviews

Summary descriptions of employer links.

(6)     The site will be re-branded, marketed directly to applicants and their advisers, and made more readily accessible to them through links with UCAS and other relevant web-sites.

(7)     UCAS will provide institutions with facilities to preview data before publication, add commentaries on their data and links to their own web-sites, and to monitor use of the TQI site.

(8)     Following the launch in summer 2007, UCAS will host the site, provide user support and continue to develop and improve the site in response to user feedback.

(9)     Qualitative materials previously uploaded onto the current TQI site will remain published until the new site is launched in summer 2007. 

(10)   As of now, institutions need not add any further qualitative materials to the current site.  A clear explanation of the status of the published materials will be added to the site, with information about the site redevelopment.

(11)   In the light of the removal of qualitative information, it is recommended that institutions review how they make public information about quality and standards available through other means.  (Suggestions are provided.  Institutions may need to revisit their FOI-related publication schemes.)

(12)   HEFCE will no longer ask QAA to assess the integrity and completeness of an institution’s TQI information as part of institutional audit (though the QAA will continue to take an interest more generally in the integrity of whatever information institutions publish about the quality and standards of their provision).

(13)   It is also recommended that institutions should share external examiners’ reports as a matter of course with student representatives, for example through staff-student committees.

(14)   HEFCE will look to QAA to provide assurance, in the context of audit and mid-cycle review that this expectation is being met.

(15)   The NSS should continue to run annually for the time being.

 

4.                  The PDQ Team will be considering the University’s response to (11) and (13) and will bring forward proposals in due course.

 

5.                  In parallel with the report, HEFCE published a Circular letter, 23/2006, ‘Development of TQI and the NSS’, setting out plans and proposals for organising and presenting the data on the future TQI site, and proposals for adding data about the profile of students studying at an institution, for consultation.  These included:

 

(16)   Proposals for improving the subject classification used on the site.

The proposal is that data should be presented at level 3 in the subject hierarchy (107 subjects) [rather than level 2 (41 subjects)].

(17)   Proposals for lowering the publication threshold that is applied to the NSS results and for aggregating data across years where necessary.

         The proposal is that the threshold for publishing NSS results should be lowered to a 40% response rate, and 20 students responding [currently 50%, 30 students responding]. 

(18)   Defining a summary of key statistics to be presented on the site.  The data would be drawn from the various categories of more detailed data already on the TQI site.

(19)   Defining student profile data to be published on the site, to provide contextual statistics about the make-up of an institution’s student body.

(20)   Proposals for incorporating data about HE in FE colleges.

 

6.         A response to the circular letter was drafted by the Registry ‘TQI Action Group’ following consultation with departments, and submitted by the deadline of 6 December 2006.