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the quality assurance agency in england, wales and northern ireland
The Quality Assurance Agency in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Although quality assurance in higher education is the responsibility of each institution, major elements of the major assurance system are set externally. Of these the work of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) is probably most important. The QAA publishes substantial information about its various processes on its web site.
The QAA assures quality in England, 
Wales and 
Northern Ireland in four main areas:
- The higher education provision of institutions on taught programmes (both undergraduates and postgraduate) through a process of institutional audit in England and Northern Ireland (though it should be noted that this will change from September 2011 to a new review system), and institutional review in Wales.
- Collaborative higher education provision with other institutions. Where this is on a large scale a separate collaborative provision audit is undertaken in England and Northern Ireland.
- Overseas higher education provision either in partnership with other providers or directly by the institution.
- The capacity of further education colleges to provide a range of higher education is assured in England through a process of integrated quality and enhancement reviews (IQER).
In all four kinds of provision the QAA expects institutions to apply a set of nationally agreed reference points, known as the 'academic infrastructure', which provides a means of describing academic standards in UK higher education, and has the following four parts:
- A code of practice provides guidance on maintaining quality and standards for universities and colleges subscribing to QAA.
- The Framework for Higher Education Qualifications describe the achievement represented by higher education qualifications.
- Subject benchmark statements set out expectations about standards of degrees in a range of subject areas. They define what can be expected of a graduate in terms of the abilities and skills needed to develop understanding in the subject.
- Programme specifications are a concise description of the intended outcomes of learning from a higher education programme offered by an individual institution, and the means by which these outcomes are achieved and demonstrated.
In reviewing provision the QAA makes one of three judgements: "confidence"; "limited confidence" and "no confidence". Overwhelmingly provision in the sector receives a "confidence" judgement, and governors should be concerned if judgements for their own institution are anything less than this. QAA reports (which are available for all institutions on the QAA web site) also make recommendations for action and governing bodies should generally be made aware of these.
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