Read our reports
Browse the latest review reports for Scottish tertiary institutions.
We are a sector-leading quality agency with unmatched experience of providing impartial regulatory and collaborative quality assurance and enhancement in Scotland. We work in partnership with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), other sector quality agencies, students, and Scotland’s colleges and universities to ensure that learners experience the highest quality of education.
QAA was delighted to have been commissioned by SFC to lead key areas of Scotland’s Tertiary Quality Project (TQP). The TQP involved the development and delivery of the Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework, which articulates a common approach to assuring and enhancing quality in Scotland’s tertiary sector.
Our activity in 2025-26
Scotland’s Tertiary Enhancement Programme (STEP)
QAA will continue to partner with College Development Network (CDN) to deliver Scotland’s Tertiary Enhancement Programme (STEP), the national enhancement programme of activity for Scotland’s colleges and universities. The focus of the second year of ‘Supporting diverse Learner Journeys’ will be on implementing the collaborative projects designed in the Discovery Phase. QAA and CDN will support project teams to deliver impactful activity that improves and enhances the learner experience in Scotland’s colleges and universities.
Tertiary Quality Enhancement Review (TQER)
In 2025-26, QAA Scotland will deliver the second year of the current external institutional review method, TQER. TQER is a peer-led, enhancement-focused approach to review. It contains the flexibility to support different institutional contexts, modes of delivery and levels of learning. Taken together with the wider TQEF, TQER is intended to support assurance and enhancement of academic standards and the quality of the student learning experience for Scotland’s colleges and universities.
National Review of Awarding Arrangements
In 2025-6, QAA was commissioned, through a four-phased process, to provide assurance to the SFC, beyond that provided by existing quality assurance mechanisms, that arrangements for the awarding of qualifications are being applied consistently, effectively and transparently; and that academic standards are being maintained.
Latest news
QAA Scotland publishes TQER Thematic Review
| Date: | September 30 - 2026 |
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QAA Scotland has published a Thematic Review of Tertiary Quality Enhancement Review (TQER) outcomes during academic years 2024-25 and 2025-26.
TQER is the method by which QAA reviews Scottish tertiary education providers as part of Scotland’s Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework. Introduced in 2024-25. TQER is designed to support quality enhancement and to improve the student experience across the sector, encompassing all 43 Scottish colleges and universities on a periodic seven-year cycle.
The new report provides a thematic analysis of the areas of good practice and recommendations for action from the reports for the eight institutions participating in TQER in 2025-26 and the two institutions which participated in 2024-25.
The report is structured around the six TQEF principles: enhancement and quality culture; excellence in learning, teaching and assessment; supporting student success; student engagement and partnership; data and evidence; and externality.
The report's conclusion notes: "The findings point to a sector with strong foundations in student support and staff development, and clear strategic ambition. The most consistent area of good practice – identified in nine of ten review reports – was the quality and comprehensiveness of student support, with employer engagement and work-based learning also emerging as a distinct sector-wide strength. The most significant area for development was student engagement and partnership: while institutions demonstrated effective mechanisms for gathering student feedback, eight of ten received recommendations to move beyond consultation into genuine student partnership and co-production."
The full report is available on the QAA Scotland website.
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