The Faculty Quality Assurance Teams have been established as a result of the perceived need to implement University-wide monitoring mechanisms in respect of teaching and learning quality.  The teams will examine the quality of teaching and of the student learning experience in the context of the research environment which underpins it.  The following guidelines provide a basis for the work of a quality assurance team during an academic year.

 

 

         i.    To consider and review departmental mechanisms for monitoring and sustaining the academic standards necessary for achieving stated aims and objectives in relation to teaching and learning within the University, Faculty and Departmental Plans.

 

         ii.   To comment on the extent to which procedures in place in individual departments reflect best practice.

 

         iii.  To identify good practice in relation to the maintenance of academic standards and to make appropriate recommendations to the Education Committee.

 

         iv.  To make annual reports on their findings to the three standing committees of Senate referred to in iii. above.

 

 

         The main objective of the work of the teams is to monitor the structures and mechanisms in place in departments and to ensure that these are effective in maintaining and enhancing academic standards.

 

         Teams should take as their starting point the stated aims and objectives of the University, Faculty and Department, as set out in the current plans.  Initially a copy of each department’s latest Departmental Plan will be supplied to the appropriate faculty team by the Registrar’s Office.

 

         In undertaking the monitoring process, it might be helpful for the teams to ask similar questions to those used by the Higher Education Quality Council’s Division of Quality Audit (HEQC DQA) in relation to the work of each department.

 

         •     what are you trying to do?

         •     why are you trying to do it?

         •     how are you doing it?

         •     why are you doing it that way?

         •     why is that the best way of doing it?

         •     how do you know it works?

 

         Attached at Annex A are more specific guidelines for quality assurance teams, set out under three headings:

 

 

 

         i.    Teams should collect the necessary data from departments during the first half of the academic year.  The amount of information provided will vary from one department to another, but the emphasis should be on a streamlined process with the minimum of paperwork and it is envisaged that several documents might cover a wide range of the department’s activities.

         ii.   Teams should base their requests for data on the detailed checklist and, if they wish, on completed self-assessment proformas, both attached at Annex A.  It is suggested that departments will choose material for the team which best demonstrates their teaching and learning provision and procedures in the areas specified.

 

         iii.  In the case of those departments who have undergone internal Departmental Review within the previous 12 months (or are to do so in the current session), or who have recently completed Self-Assessments for the HEFCE Quality Assessment process, it is suggested that, in the first instance, teams work with either the Review Report or the Self-Assessment, together with the Departmental Plan and do not request further information from the department.  Copies of these documents can be obtained from Gill Clarke in the Teaching and Learning Office in the Registry.  If after consideration of these documents, teams need further information, they should negotiate with the department or ask for clarification as described in iv. below.

 

         iv.  Once teams have scrutinised the information provided by each department, they should arrange to meet with the Head of Department or his/her nominated representative and any other departmental staff, as agreed between the team and the department.  Meetings should take place in the second half of the year, to allow time for data collection and scrutiny.  The purpose of meetings will be to:

 

               •     clarify any points not made clear in the information already available;

 

               •     enable general discussion of any issues which the team or department views as being relevant to the process.  For example, as a result of the department’s own monitoring process, there may be aspects of its teaching and learning it wishes to change, and the discussion with the team may help to focus on appropriate changes.  It is at this point that there is an opportunity for dissemination of good practice at faculty level.

 

         v.   In order to enhance dissemination of good practice at university level, one or two plenary meetings of all quality assurance teams will take place during the year.  This will enable refinement of procedures in the light of practical experience and discussion of good practice which has been found.  Such meetings will be convened by a member of the Registrar’s Office.

 

         vi.  Annex A provides a self-assessment proforma and a detailed Checklist for use by teams and departments.  These documents are intended to provide a structure within which a comprehensive group of items can be considered, but it is not intended that each question in the Checklist needs necessarily to be addressed separately.  It is anticipated that the list will be reviewed and updated to take account of experience gained in the quality assurance process.

 

 

         The following reporting mechanisms for Faculty Quality Assurance Teams have been agreed:

 

         i.    Once the team has completed its review of all departments in the faculty, a brief report on each department will be prepared.  Draft Departmental reports will be circulated to Heads of Department for comment.

 

         ii.   Once all departmental reports have been finalised, teams will prepare faculty reports.  These reports will:

 

               •     give an overview of teaching and learning quality in the faculty;

               •     make any specific recommendations the team wishes to put forward in relation to individual departments, supported by departmental reports as annexes when appropriate;

               •     identify good practice found at faculty and departmental levels.

 

         iii.  Faculty reports should be submitted to faculty quality assurance committees (Faculty Boards, Undergraduate Studies or Teaching Committees, for example), during the summer term each year and to the final Education Committee meeting of the session.