Quality assessments
The Higher Education Research Act 2017 (HERA) gives us powers to assess the quality and standards of academic experience at English higher education providers that are:
- seeking registration
- seeking degree awarding powers (DAPs)
- delivering end-point assessments for integrated higher and degree apprenticeships.
We also assess the quality and standards of registered providers to ensure they continue to meet the minimum requirements set out in our ongoing conditions of registration for quality and standards.
Details of our requirements for these assessments are set out in Regulatory advice 3 and operational guidance.
See our guidance on external quality assurance of apprenticeship end-point assessments.
Designated quality body (DQB)
HERA also sets out provision for a body to be designated (known as a ‘designated quality body’ or ‘DQB’) to perform the assessment functions on our behalf and to provide us with advice in relation to providers who are seeking registration or DAPs.
There is currently no DQB in place, so from 1 April 2023 we took on the quality and standards assessments previously carried out by the DQB, including the DAPS assessments.
We will continue to discuss arrangements about the performance of the assessment functions with sector representative groups, keeping universities and colleges informed.
Using expert academic judgement
We recognise the importance of independent academic judgement in quality assessment. The advice of our independent academic assessors informs our regulatory decisions about a provider’s compliance with our quality and standards conditions and helps us determine what action, if any, we should take as a result.
We have a large pool of academic assessors and we continue to expand this pool as we take on additional assessment activities previously undertaken by the DQB. These academic assessors are expert practitioners drawn from a broad range of providers with varied subject specialist expertise.
Our Quality Assessment Committee (QAC) will continue to play a key statutory role in providing independent advice and expertise about how we deliver the assessment functions. The QAC comprises independent members with experience of the provision of higher education. The QAC will also provide us with advice to inform our decisions in granting DAPs.
Useful links
- Assessment reports into business and management (September 2023)
- Assessing quality and standards: next steps (April 2023 blog)
- The statutory framework for quality and standards and the role of the OfS and any designated body (January 2023 briefing)
- OfS publishes summary of three-yearly report on quality body (January 2023 news story)
- Arrangements for assessing quality and standards from April 2023 (October 2022 briefing)
- Designated quality body – OfS response to QAA statement (July 2022 news story)
- DQB designation agreement between the OfS and the QAA (July 2018)
- Designation of a quality body and a data body (January 2018 board paper)
Last updated 13 September 2023 + show all updates
13 October 2023 - Added link to guidance on external quality assurance of apprenticeship end-point assessments.
12 September 2023 - The page has been brought together with new information about annual assessments and links to assessment reports.
24 April 2023 - Published details of what we use assessments for and how we use independent academic advice.
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