The UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment (UKSCQA) provides a helpful arena for discussing UK-wide issues in which the OfS has an interest.
UKSCQA provides sector-led oversight of those higher education quality assessment arrangements that continue to be shared across the UK.
It draws on expertise from across the higher education sector. Membership includes the four UK higher education regulators and funding bodies, sector body representatives, academics and students.
Currently the committee has a role in:
- determining the ongoing development of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education
- coordinating work on degree standards, which includes developing training for external examiners, understanding new approaches to the calibration of standards, and supporting a sector-led project on effective degree algorithms
- coordinating a strategic approach to the UK sector’s international activities, including the review of transnational education.
Find more information on the UKSCQA website
Degree standards project
Advance HE is running a project which will compare degree standards across providers. It is also looking at maintaining degree standards over time. The work is being undertaken by Advance HE on behalf of the Office for Students, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and the Department for the Economy of Northern Ireland.
The project is delivering training to strengthen the external examining system, which is one of the core methods for maintaining degree standards across the UK.
Advance HE is also working with a selection of subject associations and Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies to explore ways of comparing standards by subject. This project started in 2016 and will continue until July 2021.
The project is overseen by and receives its strategic direction from the UKSCQA.
Read more about the degree standards project
