Birkbeck College, University of London
Institutional Audit

JUNE 2005

RG 178 11/05

Summary

Web site for Birkbeck College, University of London

Introduction

A team of auditors from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) visited Birkbeck College, University of London (the College) from 6 to 10 June 2005 to carry out an institutional audit. The purpose of the audit was to provide public information on the quality of the opportunities available to students and on the academic standards of the awards that the College offers.

To arrive at its conclusions the audit team spoke to members of staff throughout the College and to current students, and read a wide range of documents relating to the way the College manages the academic aspects of its provision.

The words 'academic standards' are used to describe the level of achievement that a student has to reach to gain an award (for example, a degree). It should be at a similar level across the United Kingdom.

Academic quality is a way of describing how well the learning opportunities available to students help them to achieve their awards. It is about making sure that appropriate teaching, support, assessment and learning opportunities are provided for them.

In institutional audit, both academic standards and academic quality are reviewed.

Outcome of the audit

As a result of its investigations, the audit team's view of the College is that:

broad confidence can be placed in the soundness of the College's current and likely future management of the quality of its academic programmes and the academic standards of its awards.

Features of good practice

The audit team identified the following area as being good practice:

the effective integration of sessional lecturers into the life and work of the College.

Recommendations for action

The audit team also recommends that the College should consider further action in a number of areas to ensure that the academic quality and standards of the awards it offers are maintained. The team advises the College to:

expedite the planned review of its committee system to ensure the effective and efficient conduct and minuting of business
clarify the location of ultimate responsibility for quality management and academic standards
implement a College-wide procedure for managing late submissions and extenuating circumstances in student assessment
expedite the implementation of its planned common awards framework
review the programme approval process to ensure that it operates effectively and efficiently, and that approval takes place at an appropriate level
ensure that responsibility for actions arising from annual monitoring, internal review and external examiners' reports is clear, and that progress on those actions is monitored and recorded at College level.

It would be desirable for the College to:

review its current understanding of quality enhancement and then develop a formal and coordinated quality enhancement strategy
undertake a systematic analysis of generic College-wide issues arising from monitoring and review, and ensure that these, together with issues identified in external examiners' reports, contribute to the quality enhancement strategy
agree a minimum standard of virtual learning environment use for all courses
ensure the timely achievement of more coordinated provision of academic and personal support services for students.

Summary outcomes of discipline audit trails

The audit team looked at the following areas of provision: biology; classics; film and media; and management, to establish how well the College's systems and procedures are working at the discipline level. The College provided the team with documents, including student work, and the team spoke to staff and students. As well as confirming the overall confidence statements given above, the team considered that the standard of student achievement in the four discipline areas is appropriate to the title of the awards and their place in The framework for higher education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ). The team considered the quality of the learning opportunities available to students is suitable for programmes of study leading to those awards.

National reference points

To provide further evidence to support its findings the audit team also investigated the use made by the College of the Academic Infrastructure which QAA has developed on behalf of the whole of UK higher education. The Academic Infrastructure is a set of nationally agreed reference points that help define both good practice and academic standards. The findings of the audit suggest that the College has responded generally appropriately to the FHEQ, subject benchmark statements, programmes specifications and the Code of practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education, published by QAA.

In due course the institutional audit process will include a check on the reliability of the information set published by institutions in the format recommended in the Higher Education Funding Council for England's documents, 02/15: Information on quality and standards in higher education, and 03/51: Final guidance. The findings of the audit are that, at the time of the audit, the College was alert to their implications and was addressing its responsibilities in this respect.

>> Main report

>> Findings

ISBN 1 84482 403 9

Birkbeck College, University of London Institutional Audit