E-Book Overview
Universities and further education colleges are under increasing pressure to provide 'quality' for their students. Quality assurance and development issues affect the staff, resources, administration and culture of an academic institution, yet there is often a lack of clear guidance available to those responsible for implementing best practice. This book provides practical guidelines for managing academic quality assurance and quality enhancement, outlining best practice from both the UK and the rest of the world. Each chapter addresses the key points, risks and good practice across a wide range of quality issues, drawing explicitly and in detail from the QAA guidance on the Code of Practice, Subject Benchmarks, Qualifications Framework and Institutional Audit. The material is presented in an accessible and straightforward style, incorporating useful features such as development questions for individual or team review. A maintained website accompanying this book (www.academicquality.com) contains further useful resources, with updates and supplementary material in this constantly changing area.
E-Book Content
The Academic Quality Handbook Enhancing Higher Education in Universities and Further Education Colleges Patrick McGhee London and Sterling, VA First published in Great Britain and the United States by Kogan Page Limited in 2003 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses: 120 Pentonville Road London N1 9JN UK www.kogan-page.co.uk 22883 Quicksilver Drive Sterling VA 20166–2012 USA © Patrick McGhee 2003 The right of Patrick McGhee to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0-203-41676-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-44249-0 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-7494-3661-1 (paperback) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McGhee, Patrick, 1962– The academic quality handbook: assuring and enhancing learning in higher education/Patrick McGhee. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISSBN 0-7494-3662-X (hardback)—ISBN 0-7494-3661-1 (pbk.) 1. Education, Higher—Great Britain—Evaluation—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Quality assurance—Great Britain—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 1 Title. LB2331.65.G7M35 2003 378.1′01–dc21 2003002786 For Patrick and Ciaran Contents Preface Introduction vii 1 Part 1: The quality infrastructure 1 The Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) 11 2 Benchmarking academic standards: the subject benchmark statements (SBSs) 21 3 Institutional audit 29 4 Information on quality and standards in higher education 43 5 Managing quality enhancement (QE) 53 Part 2: Managing quality in the context of the QAA Code of Practice 6 The Code of Practice 67 7 Collaborative provision 73 8 Students with disabilities <