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Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education

 

 
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Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
 
 
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The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) was established in 1997 to provide an integrated quality assurance
Quality Assurance

Quality assurance, or QA for short, refers to planned and systematic production processes that provide confidence in a product's suitability for its intended purpose....
 service for United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 higher education
Higher education

Higher education refers to a level of education that is provided by university, vocational university, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, Institute of technology and other collegiate level institutions, such as Vocational school, trade schools and career colleges, that award academic degrees or professional certifications....
.

The creation of QAA was a culmination of a decade's worth of reform in the quality assurance of UK
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 higher education
Higher education

Higher education refers to a level of education that is provided by university, vocational university, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, Institute of technology and other collegiate level institutions, such as Vocational school, trade schools and career colleges, that award academic degrees or professional certifications....
. Eventually it was the work of the Joint Planning Group for Quality Assurance in Higher Education that suggested bringing together the two streams of quality assurance - subject review and institutional audit
Audit

The most general definition of an audit is an evaluation of a person, organization, system, process, project or product. Audits are performed to ascertain the validity and reliability of information, and also provide an assessment of a system's internal control....
 - into one body for the first time.

QAA's first chief executive was John Randall.






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The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) was established in 1997 to provide an integrated quality assurance
Quality Assurance

Quality assurance, or QA for short, refers to planned and systematic production processes that provide confidence in a product's suitability for its intended purpose....
 service for United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 higher education
Higher education

Higher education refers to a level of education that is provided by university, vocational university, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, Institute of technology and other collegiate level institutions, such as Vocational school, trade schools and career colleges, that award academic degrees or professional certifications....
.

The creation of QAA was a culmination of a decade's worth of reform in the quality assurance of UK
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 higher education
Higher education

Higher education refers to a level of education that is provided by university, vocational university, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, Institute of technology and other collegiate level institutions, such as Vocational school, trade schools and career colleges, that award academic degrees or professional certifications....
. Eventually it was the work of the Joint Planning Group for Quality Assurance in Higher Education that suggested bringing together the two streams of quality assurance - subject review and institutional audit
Audit

The most general definition of an audit is an evaluation of a person, organization, system, process, project or product. Audits are performed to ascertain the validity and reliability of information, and also provide an assessment of a system's internal control....
 - into one body for the first time.

QAA's first chief executive was John Randall. He served from 1997 to 2001 when he resigned. He was replaced, first on an interim basis then permanently, by Peter Williams who moved up from the post of Director of Institutional Review.

The main activities of the QAA are to ensure the quality of education delivered in UK Universities and other institutions of Higher Education. This is done at an institutional level, using periodic reviews. These reviews involve the production of self-evaluation documents by the institutions, and audit visits of the institution by QAA auditors.

QAA is a member of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education
European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education

The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education came into being in 2000 as the European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education....
 (ENQA).

Funding

QAA has three forms of income:
  • subscriptions from UK higher education institutions
    List of universities in the United Kingdom

    This is a list of universities in the United Kingdom . Below that are lists of university colleges and colleges of higher education, followed by a list of defunct institutions....
  • contracts with the main higher education funding bodies (HEFCE, SFC
    Scottish Funding Council

    The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, more commonly known as the Scottish Funding Council , is the body in Scotland that distributes funding from the Scottish Government to the country's colleges and universities....
    , HEFCW and DELNI
    Department for Employment and Learning

    The Department for Employment and Learning , formerly the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment , is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive....
    )
  • contracts with professional, statutory and other bodies (e.g. General Osteopathic Council
    General Osteopathic Council

    The General Osteopathic Council is one of the 13 health and social care regulators in the UK that are set up with the primary aim of protecting the public....
    )


Criticism

Some academics have criticized the QAA audit approach as being inappropriate for measuring education.

See also

  • Educational accreditation


External links