This section sets out the legal context in relation to quality matters, but there are Other legal aspects of governance.
The Further and Higher Education Act, 1992 (c.13) describes the funding councils' responsibilities in respect of the assessment of the quality of education provided by institutions for which public funding is received. The Act requires that each funding council shall:
(a) “Secure that provision is made for assessing the quality of education provided in institutions for whose activities they provide, or are considering providing, financial support under this part of this Act, and
(b) Establish a committee, to be known as the “Quality Assessment Committee”, with the function of giving them advice on the discharge of their duty under paragraph (a) above and such other functions as may be conferred on the committee by the council.”
The funding councils contract with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) to assess the quality of education. This is done in slightly different ways in the four UK jurisdictions.