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Two Minute Guide to Quality
Quality: Key Definitions
Academic standards
These describe what is taught and learnt, how, and at what stage in a student's career. The content of the curriculum, the rate at which students are introduced to new concepts and skills, and the methods of teaching, learning and assessment used are the most important aspects of standards. External reference points, such as subject Benchmark statements, the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework level descriptors and reports from the University's external examiners, are used to ensure that the academic standards set by the University are appropriate.
Quality of provision
This describes how well students are catered for. The concept includes the quality of the delivery of the curriculum (as opposed to its content) as well as the quality of learning resources and support services made available to students. Thus, it is possible for an individual, a school or an institution to teach brilliantly at an inappropriate standard, or to teach poorly at an appropriate standard.
Quality assurance
This involves making sure that academic standards and quality of provision are satisfactory, so that students, their families, employers and the tax-paying public all get a good deal on their investment in higher education.
Quality enhancement
This involves working continually to make things better, however good the existing quality of provision.
Quality: Who and What?
The University's academic and academic-related staff who deliver courses and learning support services carry primary responsibility for upholding standards and enhancing the quality of provision. This everyday work is supported and monitored by a wider quality framework consisting of four key elements:
Quality Committees
The work of many committees within the University covers quality, but some of the most important are:
- The University Committee on Teaching and Learning (UCTL) is responsible, on behalf of the Senate, for the development of policies and practices for the assurance of quality and standards and for the enhancement of the quality of teaching and learning.
- The three College Teaching and Learning Committees and the two Academic Standards Committees (ASCs) (one Undergraduate, the other Postgraduate) share the work of:
- scrutinising proposals to amend, introduce or withdraw individual courses or programmes;
- responding to issues raised by external examiners;
- monitoring Schools' reaction to formal student feedback.
Internal Teaching Review (ITR)
- ITR, which incorporates programme review, involves a rigorous, holistic examination of a School's teaching and learning activities once every six years.
- ITR sets out to assess the overall quality of learning opportunities in a way that a) encourages the School to think how best it can improve its teaching and b) identifies successful activities so that they can be shared with the rest of the University.
- ITRs are carried out by a panel of academic staff, outside experts and a student representative. The panel examines written evidence, including the School's self-evaluation document, and meets with the School's staff and students. The outcome of every ITR is a formal report that comments in detail on the School's academic standards, the quality of its provision and the quality of its quality assurance and enhancement procedures.
Students
- All students are invited to provide feedback on individual courses by way of their class representatives and the Student Course Evaluation Form (SCEF) exercise.
- A representative sample of a School's students participates in each ITR.
- Elected student representatives sit on a wide range of committees that deal with quality and standards, including Staff-Student Liaison Committees, the UCTL and the Senate.
- The Students' Association, often in collaboration with University management, carries out its own work to improve the quality of students' education at the University of Aberdeen.
External Scrutiny
- External examiners ensure that the University's awards are consistent with national standards and provide constructive criticism of the content and methods of teaching, learning and assessment used by Schools.
- Internal Teaching Review teams include at least one external subject specialist: an expert in the relevant field of study appointed from outside the University of Aberdeen.
- The Enhancement-led Institutional Review (ELIR) process, administered by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for Scotland, produces a public report on the effectiveness of the University's procedures for quality assurance and quality enhancement once every five years.
Further Information
Key Contacts
Quality Enhancement
University of Aberdeen · University Office · Regent Walk ·
Aberdeen · AB24 3FX
Tel: ++44 (0) 1224 273030 · Fax : ++44 (0) 1224 273386 Email :
d.comber@abdn.ac.uk
Last Modified:
Thursday, 11-Feb-2010 15:56:20 GMT
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