1. Current Quality Assurance in the UK Howard Nicholson University Librarian University of Bath

2. Current Quality Assurance in the UK Why QA? History of recent UK QA Current QA strategies in UK

3. Current Quality Assurance in the UK UK total spend on HE:£16,625,712,000 (say Aus $40 billion) UK total research grants: £4,015,079,000 (say Aus $10 billion) UK total spend on HE libraries £603,726,000 (say Aus $1.3 billion) UK total spend on HE computing £443,209,000 (say Aus $ 1 billion) Library & Computing as % of total6.2%

4. Current Quality Assurance in the UK EFFECTS OF QA Consumerism: -Public access to reports -Media use for league tables Money: -Financial gearing of RAE -Concentration in big departments

5. Current Quality Assurance in the UK THE ESSENCE OF QAA AUDIT Evidence-based, on site, once in five years Peer review, by visit and inspection Scrutiny of internal quality assurance systems Student-focused All provision, including collaborative partners

6. Current Quality Assurance in the UK THE ESSENCE OF RAE Evidence-based, remote process, every 5/6 yr Subject Panels of peer assessors Evidence entirely made up of outputs (publications, grant levels, patents, etc) Results for groups, not individuals, on numeric and star rated basis: 1 – 5*

7. Current Quality Assurance in the UK THE ESSENCE OF TQA Teaching quality, by visit, documentation and observation Subject Panels: all subjects, all universities, six year cycle Peer review team, with subject expertise Learning resources specifically inspected Results as scores, out of 24

8. Current Quality Assurance in the UK INSTITUTIONAL AUDIT – CURRENT METHOD Quality framework – QAA Codes of Practice etc Self-evaluation Document (50-60 pages) Students’ submissions Visit by Panel, five days Themes (4 or so) for “Drilling down” Report agreed and published – outcomes limited to one of three judgements, e.g. “Broad confidence” Concept of “Earned autonomy”

9. Current Quality Assurance in the UK RAE 2008 – CURRENT METHOD Quality profiles for all subjects Period covered 1.1.2001 – 31.10.2007 15 Main Panels, 67 Sub-Panels, 900 experts Evidence: up to 4 publications; staff details; research student details; grant income Web-based submission (details to be announced) Results published Dec. 2008; no appeal

10. Current Quality Assurance in the UK QAA Website:http://www.qaa.ac.ukhttp://www.qaa.ac.uk RAE Website: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/research/assessment Review of the Quality Assurance Framework (The Burslem Report). August, 2005 Howard Nicholson: h.d.nicholson@bath.ac.uk