Educational Oversight Feedback Conference 2013

Educational oversight feedback conference 2013: poster

On 19 February 2013 QAA hosted the Educational oversight feedback conference - Educational oversight: enhancing quality in UK higher education.

The conference had the following aims:

• to share and celebrate the good practice reported in educational oversight review

• to consider areas for development found in reviews

• to provide an opportunity for providers, awarding bodies and organisations to share their experiences of educational oversight

• to reflect on the outcomes of their review and how this has impacted on their management of quality

• to consider ways of developing student engagement in quality assurance processes.

Plenary sessions

Following a keynote address by the QAA Chief Executive, Anthony McClaran, there was a presentation on the outcomes of educational oversight reviews conducted in 2012.

Please click on the links below to view the PowerPoint presentation delivered.

QAA: Safeguarding standards in an increasingly diverse HE context - Anthony McClaran, QAA Chief Executive

Educational oversight: the first year - Rachael Gee, QAA Review for Educational Oversight method coordinator and Mychelle Pride,
QAA Development Officer

Workshops

Providers were invited to share their experiences by presenting short, 10-15 minute case studies on one of the workshop themes.

Please click on the links below to view a biographical note of the speaker, a short description of the institution and the PowerPoint presentation delivered.

Workshop 1: Ongoing Quality Monitoring (Internal Processes)

Workshop 1 looked into policies, procedures and distinct mechanisms of monitoring quality in the institution. Contributors addressed how policies were designed and implemented to enhance the quality monitoring process. The workshop considered different (formal or informal) practices supporting internal quality monitoring, and included debate on specific concerns related to effective quality monitoring.

Developing mechanisms for delivering continuous improvement - David Sexton, LCA Business School

Monitoring Quality with a distance, mid-career PhD student population - Irim Sarwar, Oxford Centre for Mission Studies

Good quality practice = good business practice - Professor Haydn Griffiths and Gregor Douglas, London School of Commerce/School of Business and Law

Effective Quality Assurance Committees - Graeme McMeekin, International Christian College

Improving the student learning experience and teaching support - J.C. Lloyd, City College

Workshop 2: Working with the UK Quality Code for Higher Education and other external reference points

Workshop 2 identified how providers engage with external reference points, including but not restricted to the UK Quality Code. Contributors detailed how such reference points were being considered in the institution's policies and procedures on quality and how both academic and managerial staff became aware of the relevance of working with other stakeholders.

Building a Buddy System with Partners - Jonathan Groucutt, London College of International Business Studies

The Value of Creative Thinking around External Reference Points - Gabriela Ruppin, Leo Baeck College

Workshop 3: Engaging Students in Quality Assurance

Workshop 3 explored ways in which different providers encourage students to participate in their quality assurance processes. Contributors discussed formal or informal mechanisms of collecting student feedback and methods of addressing student feedback by incorporating students' views in institutional policy debates and action plans.

How to Engage Students in Quality - Philip Lingard and James MBI Agbor, London College of Business Management and Information Technology

Student Engagement at Brit College: Opportunities and Challenges - Professor Andrew Jones, Brit College

Workshop 4: Maintaining the Action Plan

Workshop 4 considered ways in which providers implement actions resulting from the recommendations made in reviews and/or monitoring reports. Contributors outlined the methods used to revise their action plan and to discuss the issues that they had been confronted with and the types of evidence they had been using to evidence their actions.

The Art of the Possible: Management and Maintaining the Action Plan in a small HE institution - Dr Peter Rae, Nazarene Theological College

Maintaining and Implementing the Action Plan at Middlesex College of Law - Bola Makinde, Middlesex College of Law.