Colleges and universities in Scotland are responsible for reviewing their own academic provision and support services. This is known as institution-led quality review (ILQR). Institutions have flexibility to design and manage ILQR but they do need to meet the expectations of the guidance published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
This guidance identifies requirements for ILQR including:
- reviewing all provision in a maximum of a six-year cycle
- the creation of a schedule of review, with some form of review occurring annually
- the aggregation of programmes and subjects and arrangements for reviewing professional services should have sufficient granularity to allow adequate scrutiny
- involving students throughout the process including as full members of review panels
- involving at least one reviewer from outside the institution - they may come from across the UK, from industry, professional practice or may have wider international experience
- making use of external reference points when evaluating and reporting on subject provision, for example for universities, ILQR should explore the use of specific aspects of the UK Quality Code, Subject Benchmark Statements, Characteristics Statements and the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework
- themes arising from and responses to External Verifier and External Examiner reports as well as internal and external student surveys
- performance data on recruitment, retention, progression and achievement; and data trends.
During Tertiary Quality Enhancement Review (TQER) colleges and universities will be examined on how effective their ILQR processes are. QAA will also discuss the outcomes of ILQR with each higher education provider during the annual Institution Liaison Meetings. These annual discussions take place between a senior QAA Scotland staff member and key staff and student representatives from each provider.