Academic review of UK higher education
Introduction
A Subject provision and overall aims
B Academic standards Intended learning outcomes
Intended learning outcomes
Curricula
Assessment
Student achievementC Quality of learning opportunities
Teaching and learning
Student progression
Learning resourcesD Maintenance and enhancement of quality and standards
Summary of the main review outcomes
Subject provision and the overall aims
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (the QAA) helps to provide public assurance that the quality and standards of higher education are being safeguarded and enhanced by conducting academic reviews of higher education provision.
In developing its method for academic review, the QAA has published a wide range of materials designed to provide a background against which the reviews can take place. These are:
The QAA carries out reviews of individual subjects through service level agreements with the main higher education funding bodies. It also carries out institutional reviews of higher education institutions. The judgements made by the subject reviewers can contribute substantially to institutional review.
Subject review is a peer review process. It starts when institutions evaluate their provision in a subject in a self-evaluation document. This document is submitted to the QAA for use by a team of reviewers who gather evidence to enable them to report their judgements on the academic standards and the quality of learning opportunities. Review activities include meeting staff and students, scrutinising students' assessed work, reading relevant documents, and examining learning resources. Full details of the process of subject review can be found in the Handbook for academic review, QAA, 2000.
The range of judgements that reviewers may utilise when they have completed a subject review are summarised below.
To reach this judgement, reviewers look at:
Reviewers make one of the following judgements for each of three aspects of
learning opportunities:
The three aspects of quality of learning opportunities are:
Reviewers also report the degree of confidence they have in the institution's ability to maintain and enhance quality and standards in the subject under review.
1. This report presents the findings of a review of the academic standards achieved, and the quality of the learning opportunities provided, in engineering programmes at Accrington and Rossendale College. The review was completed in the academic year 2002-03.
2. The provision under review consists of
3. Accrington and Rossendale College is a tertiary college that serves the needs of the local community of east Lancashire. There are currently approximately 3,500 full-time equivalent (FTE) students at the college, of which 300 FTE students are involved in higher education (HE) programmes, with 240 of these being full-time undergraduates. The College offers a wide range of academic and vocational programmes. The College's HE programmes were developed in 1992 mostly as part of the Further and Higher Partnership (FHP), a group of FE colleges in association with the University of Sheffield. The BSc (Hons) Combined Studies (Integrated Technologies) is validated and awarded by the University of Sheffield. The HNC is validated by Edexcel.
4. The HE programme is overseen by the HE Manager, who is directly responsible to the College's Director of Curriculum. The HNC and BSc are taught by the Science and Technology Team, and each programme is managed by a course leader. There are currently 18 students taking the HNC, with a further 39 enrolled for the BSc. There are 12 staff within the engineering provision, supported by two technicians.
5. The aims for both engineering programmes are:
6. The aims are clearly expressed in the programme specifications, and are appropriate for the provision offered.
7. There are clear statements of the overall aims and learning outcomes for the BSc Combined Studies (Integrated Technologies) and HNC engineering programmes in the self-evaluation document (SED). However, the aims and outcomes in the students' programme handbooks are not the same as those in the SED. The former aims and outcomes for the BSc programme have been related to the Subject benchmark statements, and both BSc and HNC have taken into account the relevant professional body requirements for an Incorporated Engineer.
8. In the original documentation, there was no formal mapping of the aims and outcomes in individual programme modules on to the overall aims and outcomes of each programme, to show explicitly how the latter will be achieved. Evidence of this formal mapping was subsequently provided.
9. Although there is a comprehensive general induction to the College and a subsequent induction programme specific to each programme, the aims and outcomes quoted in the SED are not formally communicated to the students during this process. There is no evidence to show how these aims and outcomes are formally communicated to staff and external examiners and verifiers.
10. The HNC (Manufacturing) follows the standard Edexcel curriculum for HNC manufacturing, which, in line with national changes to Higher National curricula, was modified in 1999. The design of the curriculum for the HNC was based on nationally accepted criteria designed to encourage the achievement of the intended learning outcomes in terms of knowledge and understanding, cognitive skills and subject specific skills. The College's adoption and implementation of the Edexcel curriculum engenders relevant engineering personal and professional skills as well as transferable skills. Progression to employment is measured by the added-value the HNC affords the majority of the in-employment student body in terms of the opportunity to achieve promotion within their current workplace. Employer representatives indicated that a good number of employees who had gained the HNC qualification at the College had reached senior positions within the companies including some at board level.
11. The curriculum for the BSc Combined Studies (Integrated Technologies) was developed in 1992, under the auspices of the University of Sheffield Board of Collegiate Studies, by a consortium of colleges that included Accrington and Rossendale, Peterborough, Gateshead and Solihull colleges. At the time of development there was notable input from external stakeholders including industry. When originally validated, the curriculum of the BSc Combined Studies (Integrated Technologies) at the College comprised a subset of the wider curriculum developed by the College consortium. The initial design of the curriculum was predicated so that it could accommodate the needs of local industry by providing an opportunity for technicians and engineers to retrain and update their skills in the light of technological advances. The broad-based curriculum allowed students to specialise in three areas: manufacturing, electronics and electrical or software engineering. At Accrington and Rossendale College the specific aim was manufacturing. The University of Sheffield's most recent revalidation of the BSc was in 1999.
12. Subsequent to the original validation, the mechanism for stakeholder input to the development of the curriculum, to both the HNC and BSc, has been limited, with no formal route for external input. Although employers were of the opinion that the level of informal contact between industry and the College ameliorated potential deficiencies given the lack of a formal consultation process. In addition, the HNC and BSc course have not been accredited by a relevant professional engineering institution. Staff development is feeding in to curriculum change, as shown by the development of a recent enhancement of the curriculum. A review of the curriculum is undertaken annually by the programme team and evidence to this effecting change was discernible. As a result, developments within the curriculum have refocused the BSc Combined Studies (Integrated Technologies) from the original manufacturing strand to mechatronics; this reflects the strength of the programme.
13. The BSc Combined Studies (Integrated Technologies) curriculum encourages the achievement of the intended learning outcomes in terms of knowledge and understanding, cognitive skills and subject specific skills and engenders relevant engineering personal and professional skills, as well as transferable skills.
14. The assessment strategy for the BSc programme is documented in the programme handbook, although there is no evidence of the rationale for this. Nor is there evidence of any review of this process to evaluate the effectiveness of the corresponding assessment plan since the programme began. Although there are clear assessment plans for each individual unit in the HNC programme, there is no evidence of an overall assessment strategy for this programme.
15. In general, the assessment methods are appropriate in meeting the learning outcomes of the respective programmes. In the HNC programme, most of the assignments sampled have industrial scenarios or are industrially relevant. In the BSc programme, some of the assessments only demand the students to demonstrate a low level of knowledge and understanding to complete the assessment successfully. In such cases, the assessment criteria and marking scheme should be reviewed to reflect the appropriate level of knowledge and understanding required.
16. Assessment in the BSc course involved two assignments and one time-constrained test for each module. In the HNC course there was a more varied assignment regime with less time-constrained tests. Students felt that the assessment load was fair and appropriate and they had no complaints about the bunching of assignments.
17. Many of the projects in both programmes were industry-based, demonstrated good practice, and were appreciated by both students and employers. However, many of the assignments in the electronics modules in the BSc programme were not related to industrial applications. The assessment plan for the second-year group project in the BSc programme was not transparent, with different interpretations given by staff and students.
18. In the HNC programme, common skills are assessed independently in the students' assignments and projects. An overall grade for each common skill is computed from these assessments.
19. External examiner and external verifier reports confirm their overall satisfaction with the assessment process. The students demonstrated good knowledge and understanding of the assessment process and the assessment criteria. However, while the general quality and quantity of feedback on assessment was good, there was some variability.
20. There is a clear internal verification system, which is being applied effectively. There was evidence on individual assessments, where the verifier disagreed with the assessor, of the process by which the assessor and verifier reached agreement on the action to be taken. An overall record of such examples should be kept, which would make it simpler to trace this evidence.
21. Students undertake a broad range of work in their programmes; these include, mini, group and individual projects, reports on practical work, oral presentations, timed tests and programming exercises. While student achievement is variable, on the whole appropriate levels of knowledge and understanding were demonstrated. The attainment of transferable and practical skills, as well as specialist techniques was good. Many of the individual BSc final-year project dissertations were impressive and had been praised by employers. The practical work produced on the HNC programme is of a good standard.
22. The attainment record is very good as shown by the 2001-02 cohorts. There was 100 per cent completion of the HNC. For the BSc, 20 per cent attained First class honours, 30 per cent Upper Second class, 20 per cent Lower Second class and 30 per cent Third class awards. In this cohort 20 per cent were female. The average of females undertaking the BSc Combined Studies (Integrated Technologies) over the past five years is of the order of 5 per cent.
23. With respect to academic standards, the reviewers conclude that:
Overall, the reviewers have confidence in the academic standards achieved by the programmes in engineering at Accrington and Rossendale College.
24. Delivery of the curriculum for both HNC and BSc programmes is generally through formal lectures and practical classes, and there are also some examples of case studies, group work and role play. Both staff and students feel that group sizes are small enough to encourage interaction between students and lecturers. Students reported that teaching was generally of a good quality, with some excellent examples. Some staff members seem to take a disproportionate amount of the teaching load, leaving the courses vulnerable to particular staff absences. Students reported that occasionally classes had been cancelled due to lack of cover in the event of staff sickness.
25. The BSc Combined Studies (Integrated Technologies) is specifically aimed towards a mechatronic environment; however, perhaps the integration of module material could be enhanced.
26. There is an established college-wide procedure for periodically observing teaching and learning. This has been carried out by members of the cross-college observation team, but not specifically for HE teaching. A system of peer observation is being piloted to ensure that observation is targeted at HE teaching for the courses under review. Evidence so far shows the new system to be appropriate and effective. Permanent adoption of peer review will help to ensure that a good quality of teaching is maintained.
27. The College recognises the importance of scholarly activity for the teaching staff and has recently increased the timetable allowance to assist in promoting this. Staff are all involved in various forms of such activity including study for higher degrees. In many cases the scholarly activity has involved training and familiarisation with recently acquired computer software packages, which directly relate to the curricula.
28. Practical work forms an important part of the curriculum delivery, many modules include a significant amount of hands-on practical work, which is appreciated by students and is appropriate for both HNC and BSc programmes. In many modules the assessment of students' practical work forms part of the overall assessment for the module. Project work is a feature of both courses and provides a suitable vehicle for development of both subject specific and transferable skills. The BSc students appreciate the second-year group project and recognise its value in developing their skills to tackle the important final-year individual project. Most of the students who are employed base their project on an aspect of their work.
29. Transferable skills are developed in various ways and each assignment brief has a clear statement of the particular common skills that may be demonstrated during its completion. Much of the assignment work encourages student-centred learning which demands the application of all the transferable skills. This is particularly true for the project modules. Students recognised the value of the transferable skills acquired through the programmes.
30. There are two modules where HNC and BSc students are taught together. Students found no problems with this; they felt that the group sizes were small enough to ensure that both groups had adequate individual attention. The two courses are closely related and the joint teaching has some clear benefits for the students' learning experience.
31. There is an evolving policy on student tutorials and much of the current activity is on an informal basis. Full-time students have a timetabled tutorial session each week, and the small group sizes allow all students easy access to staff. Students praised staff for their availability. However, should student numbers increase a more formal structured tutorial system would help to ensure timely and effective support for all students.
32. The provision contributes substantially to the achievement of the intended outcomes, with most elements demonstrating good practice.
The quality of teaching and learning is commendable.
33. The admissions policy of the Department is flexible and able to support applications from students with a wide range of backgrounds, qualifications and experience. The pattern of applicants falls into four bands; mature students who typically would wish to stay in their locality to study a degree; students who have completed a qualification at the College and wish to remain in the same locality; students in full-time employment who are released to study part-time; and students transferring from other HE institutions. Most applicants have BTEC National Qualifications and extensive use is made of Accreditation of Prior Learning. The gender balance is predominately male.
34. Given the range of initial student experience and background, progression rates are very good and are equivalent to similar course intakes at a national level. The retention rate is good, standing in the academic year 2001-02, at 92 per cent. Retention and non-completion is not dependent upon age and student withdrawal is mainly for financial or personal reasons, or related to job opportunities.
35. The majority of students who successfully complete the course are already in employment and remain with their employer. Employers commented that a sizeable proportion of students gain promotion because of their achievement. The minority who are not in employment find work within one year of completing the course.
36. The provision contributes substantially to the achievement of the intended outcomes, with most elements demonstrating good practice.
The quality of student progression is commendable.
37. The teaching team delivering the HNC and BSc courses is made up of 12 full-time staff supported by two technical support staff. All staff are academically well qualified, most have relevant industrial experience and some are members of professional institutions.
38. Staff development is encouraged; all staff receive a time allowance for scholarly activity and receive financial support to attend courses and conferences outside the college. The imminent introduction of a staff secondment scheme into industry will strengthen the opportunities for staff to keep up to date with industrial developments.
39. There is no overall departmental learning resource strategy. The planning for, and deployment of, resources is reactive and relies on the outcomes of internal self-assessment and student reviews rather than being derived from the learning outcomes in a proactive manner. The College budget has no specific allocation for HE resources but the Higher Education Funding Council for England development fund for HE in FE has awarded valuable funding to the College. This funding has been used to enhance staff development opportunities and to equip and refurbish the HE teaching block.
40. The HNC and BSc students are mostly located in the HE block; this has been brought up to a high standard of accommodation, which creates an appropriate environment for HE study. The laboratories and workshops are spacious and well maintained; they provide a good learning environment. The laboratories are fully equipped but students noted, and the reviewers confirm, that some key equipment is dated and merely adequate for degree-level courses. Computing facilities are good and industrial standard software is available for computer aided design (CAD) and CAD/CAM (manufacture). Teaching of the Internet module has been considerably enhanced by the use of a newly-installed interactive lecture screen.
41. The learning resources centre houses the library and open-access computer facilities. The library provides an adequate budget to meet the programmes' needs; however, teaching staff do not always make use of the mechanisms in place for book recommendations. As such, the book stock is clearly limited with serious omissions in certain subject areas. There are only three titles on mechatronics, the key focus of the BSc course. The reviewers felt that an over-reliance on use of the internet was encouraged to the detriment of maintaining an adequate book stock. This reflects the need for BSc graduates to be able to read, digest, analyse and evaluate large volumes of text and complex and sustained arguments. Students have commented on the shortage of books for a number of subject areas. There is very little available in the way of relevant joumals but recently acquired, computer-based academic search facilities more than compensate for this shortcoming. Detailed breakdown of book loans on a course basis is not available. Access to the learning centre is from 0830 to 2000 hours. Some part-time students found that the closing time limited their possible use of the library. A period of Saturday opening had been tried but the take-up was too limited to justify continuing it.
42. The provision enables the intended outcomes to be achieved, but improvement is needed to overcome weaknesses.
The quality of learning resources is approved, but
43. A high priority is given to quality assurance at all levels in the College to enhance the students' learning experience. The College has well established and comprehensive policies, and a corresponding framework, for assuring the quality of the curricula.
44. Good use is made of student questionnaires, which go down to module level. These are analysed at course team level, which results in corresponding improvements being made to the curricula. These are also used to inform the self-assessment process, which is required of each team and which results in the production of the SED, which is evaluative. The observation of teaching and learning, the views of external examiners and verifiers, the results from course team meetings and other qualitative and quantitative information, are also taken into account in the SED. However, there are no formal systems for seeking the views of employers, and the positive results of the feedback from students is not always communicated to them.
45. The College provides some time for staff to undertake higher degree and other enhanced qualifications and to undertake upgrading projects in industry. There are also opportunities to attend short courses and other professional development activities. The College also gives a weighted hourly allowance on the timetable for staff teaching on HE programmes.
Engineering programmes at Accrington and Rossendale College were reviewed
in the academic year
2002-03. Judgements were made about the academic standards achieved and the quality
of the learning opportunities provided.
The review covered the following programmes
Overall, the reviewers have confidence in the academic standards achieved by the programmes in engineering at Accrington and Rossendale College.
Strengths include:
lssues include:
The quality of teaching and learning is commendable:
The quality of student progression is commendable:
The quality of learning resources is approved, but:
Strengths include:
The College has well-established and comprehensive policies, and a corresponding framework, for assuring the quality of the curricula.