A new Policy Note published by the Higher Education Policy
Institute and written by the Chief Executive of the Quality
Assurance Agency for Higher Education explores what quality means
in UK higher education today. The publication (attached) marks
the start of a year of activities to mark the 25th
birthday of the QAA.
As a membership organisation for higher education providers
across the whole UK, the QAA works across the different contexts
of quality control, quality assurance and quality enhancement. In
Defining Quality (HEPI Policy Note 33), the QAA’s Chief
Executive Vicki Stott assesses the meaning of these three
contexts as well as their relevance and application.
With each part of the UK having a different approach to quality
assurance and quality enhancement, a common understanding of the
different mechanisms at play provides context to policy debates
between, as well as within, the four different jurisdictions.
Through the report, the QAA aims to begin a sector-wide
conversation which will include a series of events and
publications aimed at providing a forum to consider the future of
quality when applied to higher education.
Vicki Stott, QAA’s Chief Executive and the author of the
report, said:
‘We are very pleased to be collaborating with HEPI as we start a
dialogue about quality. We are of course long-standing
practitioners in quality and standards, but through our
membership work we know that definitions, applications and
approaches to quality vary across the UK higher education sector
and continue to evolve.
‘We hope this Policy Note starts a useful conversation which we
can explore throughout our 25th anniversary year.’
, Director of HEPI,
said:
‘If education is to be the great leveller and enabler that we all
want it to be, then it must be high quality. But assuring and
enhancing quality is easier said than done. That’s why the
mission of the Quality Assurance Agency has been so important
across all four parts of the UK over the past 25 years.
‘These days, policymakers and regulators take a close interest in
quality issues, which is good to see. But it is vital that the
search for solutions does not treat the available evidence in
oversimplistic ways when determining what quality looks like.
After all, when the higher education sector gets it right, it is
students who benefit the most.’
