This practice reminds providers to be aware of their dual responsibility to the maintenance of academic standards and quality of the student learning experience.

This guidance helps providers meet their responsibilities for academic standards and quality through a systematic, strategic approach. Along with the advice and guidance for Principle 8, it will be particularly useful for providers entering into or operating partnership arrangements.

This practice focuses on implementing of a strategic approach to quality and standards. This can be done through articulating, planning and embedding the approach across culture and practice within a provider and across any partnership arrangements, with student and stakeholder engagement a key component in its success.

Aligning quality assurance with work around equity, equality, diversity and inclusion (EEDI) and environmental sustainability helps to ensure that processes such as curriculum approval, enhancement, recruitment and retention also contribute to this work.

This Key Practice’s advice gives providers options for thinking about tailored strategic approaches to embed EEDI and environmental sustainability as a key enabler of maintaining standards and enhancing quality. It discusses implementation, promotion, and lists ideas for ongoing activities to help providers do this.

This practice advises providers to communicate their strategic approach through clear and robust regulations, policies and procedures, describing the processes they use to assure quality, secure academic standards and enhance the student learning experience.

The practice encourages providers think about the needs of their audience, establish a comprehensive governance framework, and tailor their communications to a range of different stakeholders.

This practice advises periodic monitoring of a provider’s strategic approach to ensure it is being implemented successfully and embedded across the institution. This is distinct from the regular or risk-based monitoring and review processes of course provision itself (which is covered by Principle 5 - Monitoring, evaluating and enhancing provision) but suggests there may be scope to include the review of strategic approaches into larger monitoring and evaluation systems.