QAA convenes PSRB event

On Wednesday 3 December, QAA convened a meeting of representatives of the UK's Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRBs) at the headquarters of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in Central London.

A broad range of PSRBs were represented at the event, which explored the role of competence standards and reasonable adjustments in higher education.

The discussion was led by a panel chaired by Rob Stroud, QAA’s Executive Director of Quality Assurance & Enhancement, who observed that the higher education sector is now urgently addressing how to define competence standards and how they should be assessed.

The panel comprised the Health & Care Professions Council’s Head of Education Jamie Hunt, the University of Bristol’s Executive Director for Students & Education Steve Hall, and Professor Deborah Johnston, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at London South Bank University and Disability & Access Ambassador to the UK Government.

Deborah reminded us that we’ve had a legal definition of competence standards since 1995’s Disability Discrimination Act, and that a competence standard "must be legally justifiable and, in the end, can only be ruled on in a court of law".

Steve warned that "there is definitely a significant risk that there is non-compliance out there in the sector".

Jamie went on to describe this situation from a regulator’s perspective. "Our standards of proficiency are set at a threshold level that’s necessary for public protection," he said.

Our full report on the event is available exclusively to QAA Members in the Membership Resources area of our website.