Perceptions of the Value of Quality Assessment in Scottish Higher Education

When the first full round of teaching quality assessments (TQAs) was completed by the UK funding councils, the older universities had gained the largest percentage of the higher grades of assessment, while the new universities had the highest share of the lower grades. This pattern repeated itself, with minor variations, during later assessments. Utilising data from the Times Higher Education Supplement league tables for all UK universities (THES, 2000), covering the years 1993‐2000, this paper examines the relationship between TQA results, reputational factors, and resourcing indicators. Concludes that league tables may be instrumental in perpetuating the divide between the old and new university sectors, by failing to acknowledge the diverse missions of the institutions. We suggest that it may be more useful to group universities by set criteria which would allow for more meaningful comparisons.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching quality performance indicators – key influences on the UK universities’ scores

Drennan

Beck²

2001

“…The 'doing something to'element of the education experience transformation process becomes a unique interaction involving both partiesvalue systems in making evaluative judgments of ongoing transactions. This in itself presents an unusual set of circumstances for as Dickson et al (1995) point out, "Education may be unique in the sense that it is difficult for the customer to assess the quality and relevance of the service. A university course is unusual in that the buyer, i. e. the student, may have only general ideas of what lies ahead and may not fully comprehend the content or relevance of a course until the later years of study or potentially long after graduation".…”

Section: Educational Transfonnation and Its Relevance To Value Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The congruence of quality values in higher education

Telford

Masson

2005

100

Higher education and more specifically University education is being called to account more and more. It follows therefore that the Universities must present information on the quality of service which they provide as perceived by their customers and their supporters who supply their funding. The author would wish to'gratefully acknowledge the cooperation and assistance of his supervisors Professor Ron Masson, BiH Low, and Graham Martin, for their help and advice: Jack Worden Dean of Business School Napier University, lecturers, fel. low students in particular David White from the Mathematics and Statistics Department, and other staff at Napier University for their ongoing support and encouragement throughout the long period of this research. Fina. Hy I would wish to acknowledge the support given by my wife during the darkest moments of this research.

Quality assurance systems and educational development: part 2 – the need for complementary staff development

McKay¹,

Kember²

1999

The second of two related articles examines the quality enhancement initiatives that led to the development of a substantially different degree proposal, after the rejection of the first proposal at course validation. The case study continues with a review of the initiatives that allowed the development of a course team that felt ownership of the second proposal, and the staff development initiatives that provided the substance on which the implementation phase was able to progress. The case study illustrates the limitations and powers of quality assurance and shows that it is most effective when operating in concert with educational development processes.