The latest edition of the UK Quality Code is the product of a huge amount of work put in by our colleagues at QAA and across the sector.
It articulates a set of key principles and practices agreed by the sector and which also reflect internationally recognized values – in particular, the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) of the European Higher Education Area.
You can see this reflected in its emphasis on student engagement, quality enhancement and regular monitoring and review – things which of course form the basis of good practice in so much of our work.
The bigger picture
This alignment of our sector’s principles with the ESG represents a clear, consistent and public statement of our shared values, one which should help to assure trust and confidence in the quality of UK provision, reinforcing that provision’s reputation in the eyes of domestic and overseas governments, agencies, institutions, publics, students and prospective students.
And, in more immediate and practical terms, the international recognition of the quality of UK qualifications can directly support the mobility of our students and graduates, facilitating their opportunities for work and study across the world.
This kind of international alignment offers clear benefits to students and to providers, as well as wider economic impacts. In fact, it’s well worth observing that its importance was emphasized by Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers during the House of Lords Grand Committee debate on the Industry and Regulators Committee report on the Office for Students last month.
So, it’s in no way a matter of niche interest or concern. It really matters – to very many people’s livelihoods and lives. As such, the Code is a vital expression of values that the sector properly holds dear and our recognition of the transformative power of education.
The tertiary dimension
One significant difference worth flagging between the 2018 and 2024 versions of the Code is that it now encompasses quality principles shared across the tertiary sector and is designed to offer practical help to a wide range of post-secondary education providers.
This is the first time that the Code’s been intended to have applications beyond higher education. This approach reflects a move towards more integrated approaches to quality management being developed across tertiary systems in the devolved nations of Britain.
Quality aficionados will already be aware that in Wales a single quality framework will be applied to tertiary education under the oversight of the new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research – and that a single approach to quality assurance and enhancement is going to be introduced later this year in Scotland, as part of that nation’s Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework.
As part of our role in those nations, QAA will of course be supporting tertiary providers who haven’t previously used the Quality Code to embed its principles into their quality systems.
Of course, it’s true that for years many providers across the UK have delivered qualifications at both FE and HE levels. The systems they’ve developed to underpin the quality of the student experience already span those levels. The Code’s tertiary approach has been designed to reflect and share that good practice.
It should also help to support smoother transitions for learners moving through further and higher education. Again, we should be able to see direct practical benefits to students themselves, as a result of the sector coming together in this collaborative enterprise.
Sincerely yours
This inclusive approach exemplifies what the Code’s meant to achieve. It’s essentially a set of key reference points owned by our sector, developed to represent its rich diversity and to draw together its shared understanding and expectations of its principles and practices.
This in turn can reinforce the sector’s confidence in itself, and build external trust and confidence in it, as well as supporting the active participation of students at all levels in the enhancement of the quality they experience and in that experience itself.
Enhancing the quality of the student experience and maintaining the standards of HE aren’t things that can effectively be achieved in isolation. These activities clearly work best with agreement and collaboration between educators and providers, as well as professional and sector bodies, to reach a common understanding of the levels at which standards should be set, and to share best practice. The same’s the case, of course, with the Quality Code itself.
The 2024 Code is the outcome of extensive engagement and consultation with the diverse range of stakeholders – including students, representative bodies, PSRBs and providers both large and small – which constitute the sector across the four nations of the UK.
Its collaborative approach is reflected in its renewed emphasis on, for example, the management of partnerships, on how we can work together to promote environmental sustainability, and on the importance of student engagement and empowerment in the assurance and enhancement of the quality of the learning experience.
Here to help
This new Code’s been created by the sector and for the sector. It’s intended to be sufficiently clear, straightforward and practical to be smoothly embedded within the long-term strategies and daily practices of providers, educators and quality professionals across the UK.
It offers a greater breadth of scope, depth of focus and variety of perspectives than the previous edition published in 2018. That edition was of course produced under very different conditions to address very different sectoral contexts. The new Code is also, inevitably, rather longer, although it’s still designed for ease of access and use.
It’s resolutely independent and it reflects and underlines the sector’s independence. It’s proactive in its expectations. It’s not, of course, about threats of penalties. It’s not about the imposition of narrow prescriptions or binding bundles of bureaucracy. It’s most certainly not trying to trip anyone up with small print, or tie anyone up in red tape. It’s there to help providers do what they do best, and to ensure confidence in the value of shared principles and protocols.
It’s a declaration of the sector’s shared commitment to effective and equitable practices, to engagement with students and partners, and to maintaining the standards that underpin the sector’s global reputation. It’s a commitment we’re making for all the world to see.
It seeks to be collaborative, inclusive and aspirational and to capture, reinforce and promote our sector’s internationally renowned commitment to quality and to ensuring its ongoing enhancement and assurance.
And it’s a practical, user-friendly, go-to guide to quality which brings together the values we share and supports us in making the things we do even better.
I hope it will prove valuable to those who are passionate about the importance of education as a social, cultural and economic good, and about its power to change lives.
The sector’s keen commitment to engage actively in the creation of this new edition of the UK Quality Code has been truly inspiring. I reckon that’s something worth shouting about.
