Policy Briefing
Quality assurance in England: Key principles
28 Sep 2015
This policy briefing is the million+ submission to the consultation on future approaches to quality assurance published by HEFCE. Quality assurance in England: Key principles sets out our view that quality assurance should be independent of funders (whether government, funding councils or students), based on co-regulation, and be risk-based and proportionate to the experience of higher education providers.
There is scope to improve the current quality assurance system to ensure that higher education institutions see it as an enabler, and not as an obstacle and a burden. We believe that an effective, independent rigorous quality assurance process will:
- Safeguard the role of UK universities in the global market
- Provide a benchmark for excellence in the sector
- Feature a robust, coherent external examiners system
- Involve governing bodies effectively and appropriately
- Encourage excellence and innovation in teaching and learning
- Engage students in strong partnerships
- Protect the reputation of higher education
A system with these principles and features will serve the UK and England will in the future and should be the benchmark for international excellence and high quality teaching.