3.6 QUALITY ASSURANCE EXPERIENCE IN SELECTED COUNTRIES
3.6.2 Approaches to quality assurance in the UK
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different. The goal of CHEA is to assure that accreditors contribute to improve and maintain academic quality, while the goal of USDE is to assure that accreditors contribute to maintain the soundness of programmes and institutions that receive federal funds (CHEA, 2020a).
Recognition of accreditors is conducted by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity based on the standards and review processes they apply to institutions judged against a set of established federal government criteria.
The initial accreditation process for a new institution is particularly detailed and overly burdensome and can take between 5 and 10 years to complete. For most institutions, after initial accreditation, re-accreditation happens every 10 years with frequent mid- term check-ups on their operations to provide them with an opportunity to update their methods and goals (Brown, Kurzweil & Pritchett, 2017). Accreditation is a standards- based, evidence-based, trust-based, peer-based, judgement-based process. A programme or an institution seeking accreditation must go through the following steps:
assuring minimum threshold quality in higher education (quality assurance) and assuring that programmes and institutions have processes to try to do what they do in a better way (quality improvement) (Eaton, 2016; Hegji, 2017).
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Higher education providers are the bodies primarily responsible for overseeing the educational quality and standards of their awards. The QAA conducts external reviews and judges how well higher education providers discharge their responsibility and the efficiency of their processes for doing this. UK HLIs are self-governing with a high level of autonomy and are not owned by the government. The majority of the institutions are publicly funded through the higher education funding councils (Jackson & Bohrer, 2010). Colleges and universities in England, Northern Ireland and Wales are funded through student tuition fees. In the UK, internal quality audit by the institutions themselves and external quality audit by QAA is adopted as an approach to assure the quality of education in HLIs (QAA, 2005). The QAA is an independent body entrusted to monitor and advise on standards and quality in UK higher education. The objective of the agency is to improve the quality and safeguard standards of UK higher education wherever it is delivered around the world. The agency also works to promote and enhance the reputation of UK higher education worldwide by building international partnerships.
In the UK, each HLIs is responsible for ensuring the standards and quality of its education provision. It is the institution’s primary responsibility to ensure that students are attaining the required standards and that they offer good quality education. To assure their internal standards and quality of education, they carry out an extensive range of internal quality assurance practices. According to QAA (2014), the UK Quality Code for Higher Education which is prepared and kept up-to-date by the QAA is the main reference document in assuring the quality and standards of UK higher education. It presents a comprehensive reference point to assist HLIs to offer high- quality education to their students (QAA, 2018). It is used by the UK HLIs to ensure the achievement of their expected outcome. The Quality Code clearly describes the duty and responsibility of HLIs, what the general public can expect from them, and what they can expect of each other. It safeguards the interests of all students, whether they are part-time, fulltime, undergraduate or postgraduate, regardless of where they are studying. The HLIs reviewed by the QAA are required to meet all the expectations set out in the Quality Code. In addition to the Quality Code reference points, the HLIs are also responsible for fulfilling the requirements set in their legislation and any other requirements placed upon them by regulatory bodies, for example, by funding bodies (QAA, 2018).
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The Quality Code which has been used as a reference for quality and shaping the student learning experience, informed the development of policies and actions for upholding academic standards and is a guiding reference on good practice in the higher education providers. In addition to the Quality Code, the qualification and credit frameworks and the characteristics and subject benchmark statements are also used as reference points for educational improvement (QAA, 2018). Reference points are agreed requirements used to ensure consistency in academic standards of degree- awarding bodies. National qualification frameworks are prescribed structures that are adopted by many countries to define their qualification systems. They are a tool both for making valid comparisons of qualifications internationally (to facilitate student mobility) and for securing threshold academic standards nationally. Subject benchmark statements describe the expected academic standards of graduates in specific subject areas (such as medicine, accounting, engineering) that might reasonably be expected to know, do and comprehend at the end of their studies (QAA, 2019; QAA, 2005).
In the UK, external institutional-level review for HLIs by QAA is conducted based on the self-evaluation document prepared by the institutions before the external review visit, which is a key reference point for the external review team, followed by a peer review comprising a team of academics from higher education and sometimes students and professionals are also included in the team (Jackson & Bohrer, 2010).
The number of people in the team is usually between four and six, for each visit. All members of the team receive training before visiting the HLIs. Reviews are scheduled at least six months ahead of the visit to the HLIs. Before the on-site visit, a meeting is held with the higher learning institution’s representatives to reach a common understanding about the external review. During the visit, the review team discusses with staff and students and refers to the academic infrastructure/reference points. The length of the visit varies depending on the type of review. Finally, a report on the review team’s findings is produced and published on the QAA website (www.qaa.ac.uk).
These reports are useful for staff in universities and colleges; students enrolled in higher education and those applying to study; professional and regulatory bodies;
employers of graduates and other statutory bodies. The main purpose of reviewing HLIs is to investigate and make judgements as to whether or not the academic quality
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and standards of the institutions meet the expectations stated in the UK Quality Code for Higher Education (QAA, 2014; Jackson & Bohrer, 2010).