Institution reports

The audit team identified the following areas as being good practice:

• the depth, clarity, comprehensiveness and currency of the information the University produces for its staff and students
• the strong personal engagement of all staff with the principles and systems for assuring standards and enhancing the quality of learning opportunities
• the strength of the partnership approach between faculties and Academic Quality Support Services in the assurance of quality and standards
• the effective enhancement of rigorous formal mechanisms by complementary informal arrangements
• the systematic and supportive processes and management which underpin collaborative arrangements with key partners
• the supportive relationships that underpin learning and working in the institution
• the effectiveness of the Work Based and Integrative Studies framework in providing flexible, responsive and relevant educational opportunities to work-based learners
• the systematic approach to developing and embedding employability through curriculum, support and delivery mechanisms
• the University’s commitment to preparing students for study as demonstrated by its pre-enrolment activities and its extended induction arrangements.

The team advises the University to:

• review the consistency of the operation of faculty boards of studies in relation to their consideration of annual monitoring reports
• develop clear criteria for entering into partnership arrangements where it does not have the relevant subject expertise.

It would be desirable for the University to:

• consider how it might develop further its central, formal oversight of postgraduate taught provision
• consider ways of ensuring that postgraduate research students have received the support to which they are entitled before they undertake teaching and/or assessment.