The Academic Quality Handbook: Enhancing Higher Education in Universities and Further Education Colleges

269 Pages·2005·1.16 MB·English

by  Patrick Mcghee

The Academic Quality
Handbook
Enhancing Higher Education in
Universities and Further Education
Colleges
Patrick McGhee
London and Sterling, VA
First published in Great Britain and the United States by Kogan Page Limited in 2003
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the
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in
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120 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JN
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www.kogan-page.co.uk
22883 Quicksilver Drive
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© Patrick McGhee 2003
The right of Patrick McGhee to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted
by
him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0-203-41676-7 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-44249-0 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-7494-3661-1 (paperback)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McGhee, Patrick, 1962–
The academic quality handbook: assuring and enhancing learning in
higher education/Patrick McGhee.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISSBN 0-7494-3662-X (hardback)—ISBN 0-7494-3661-1 (pbk.)
1. Education, Higher—Great Britain—Evaluation—Handbooks, manuals,
etc. 2. Quality assurance—Great Britain—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 1
Title.
LB2331.65.G7M35 2003
378.1′01–dc21
2003002786
For Patrick and Ciaran
Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
Part 1: The quality infrastructure
1 The Framework for Higher Education Qualifications 11
(FHEQ)
2 Benchmarking academic standards: the subject 21
benchmark statements (SBSs)
3 Institutional audit 29
4 Information on quality and standards in higher education 43
5 Managing quality enhancement (QE) 53
Part 2: Managing quality in the context of the QAA Code of Practice
6 The Code of Practice 67
7 Collaborative provision 73
8 Students with disabilities 111
9 External examining systems 129
10 Academic appeals and student complaints 143
11 The assessment of students 153
12 Programme approval, monitoring and review 167
13 Career education information and guidance (CEIG) 193
14 Placement learning 205
15 Recruitment and admission of students 221
16 Distance learning 231
Appendix: Useful contacts 245
References 249
Further reading 251
Index 253
Preface
This book is intended as an introduction to the management of quality assurance
and enhancement in higher education particularly in England. The text focuses
on the relationship between institutional quality assurance and the auditing
authority of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, the QAA.
Although drawing heavily upon the ‘quality infrastructure’ agenda of The
Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ), subject benchmark
statements (SBSs), the QAA Code of Practice and the arrangements for
institutional audit, the book seeks to look beyond this infrastructure to the
fundamental features of robust quality assurance processes and effective quality
enhancement arrangements.
The book is designed to be practical, accessible and a resource for staff
development. Although it is not designed as a scholarly analysis of quality as a
theoretical concept, or a review of empirical data relating to implementing
quality initiatives, recent research and analyses are drawn on where relevant.
This book is intended for anyone with an interest in quality assurance in
education, but will be particularly useful for course leaders, Departmental heads,
administrators, educational developers, quality unit staff and senior managers
looking to review and develop practice, systems and policies. I hope that this
book will also be useful to those with an interest in staff development as it is
designed to stimulate reflection and research into institutional practices, personal
views on quality and the future of enhancement. This book would be particularly
useful as a common discussion point for course teams, departments or new staff
cohorts.
Quality assurance is a rapidly developing area. Some chapters and articles
published as late as summer of 2002 still operate on the assumption that the
primary methodology for review of provision by the QAA would be what was
known as ‘academic review’. This has been largely abandoned in favour of an
institutional audit arrangement focused supposedly on a lighter touch and the
promotion of enhancement. The arrangements for institutional audit published by
the QAA in Spring 2002 now appear to be stable until 2006. But, as was seen in
the implementation of comprehensive subject review the nuances and emphasis
can change over time. In order to ensure that this text stays as relevant as
possible in the current climate and to facilitate discussion and access to additional
resources, a Web site has been established for this book. It can be found at:
www.academicquality.com.
If you have comments about this book or suggestions for improvement for any
subsequent editions please visit the Web site and e-mail me.
I am grateful to various people who have helped me develop my ideas on
quality over the past few years including Peter Marsh, Paul Birkett, Helen
Marshall, Daniel Lamont, Angela Murphy, Pam Houghton, Bob Millington, John
Shaw, Kevin Ellard and Elizabeth Fish. I am grateful to Jonathan at Kogan Page
who initially commissioned the book and made sure it got started and Stephen
Jones who made sure it got finished. As always I am grateful to Ciaran, Patrick
and Marianne who put up with me while I wrote it.
Introduction
A handbook on quality for higher education (or indeed on quality for anything
else) might read something like this:
Chapter 1: Quality assurance (QA)
Write down what you are trying to do and check periodically that you are
doing it.
Chapter 2: Quality enhancement (QE)
Write down what those who use your systems say about their experience and
amend the systems accordingly.
However, as is often the case in quality matters the statements raise more
questions than answers. What is involved in writing down what you are trying to
do? What are the headings for this ‘doing’? What is involved in ‘checking
periodically’? What systems? What experience? What kind of amendments?
Who takes responsibility for doing all these things?
Crucially there might also need to be a third chapter:
Chapter 3: Audit
Make sure you keep records as you go to prove to outsiders that you are
following the advice of Chapters 1 and 2.
It is important that we do not lose sight of this third dimension. Universities,
while constitutionally autonomous from government in the UK, are hugely
dependent on public funding and therefore are subject to a heavy burden of
accountability and audit. However, while audit is an important aspect of quality
assurance (QA), it should not be allowed to become the motivation for it.
Effective management of quality, understood as the effectiveness of a
programme of learning given the needs of the student in the context of a defined
set of learning outcomes, involves bringing assurance, enhancement and audit
systems together while recognizing their different functions and rationale.
In many respects, managing academic quality, particularly quality
enhancement, is essentially an exercise in change management, and as such
requires strategy, leadership, and sensitivity to local cultures and histories. This