QAA commends Cardiff Metropolitan University

This month, QAA published its Quality Enhancement Review (QER) of Cardiff Metropolitan University (Cardiff Met), and commended the institution for its achievements in many areas, including proactive approaches to increase levels of support to students during the pandemic, and the enhancement of the quality of the student learning experience.

QAA appointed a team of five independent reviewers to review Cardiff Met. The formal review of the institution took place in January 2021, with it taking place entirely in an online environment due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the review team made the judgement that Cardiff Met meets the requirements of the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) on internal quality assurance, and that it meets the relevant baseline regulatory requirements of the Quality Assessment Framework for Wales.

Commendations for Cardiff Met included:

• The strong contribution made by the Associate Deans Student Engagement in consolidating student engagement and partnership between students and the University.
• The particularly proactive approach of the Library and Information Services to further increase the level of support to students, particularly during the pandemic.
• The impact of the Quality Enhancement Directorate initiatives in ensuring the consistent management and enhancement of the quality of the student learning experience.
• The well-embedded and robust oversight of transnational education partnerships which ensures that academic standards and the quality of the student learning experience are not at risk.
• The consistent and highly effective organisation and management of placement activity across the institution.

The University can trace its origins back to 1865 when the School of Art first opened in the Old Free Library in Cardiff. During the 20th century, a number of Cardiff colleges merged to form ‘South Glamorgan’ and then Cardiff Institute of Higher Education which, in 1996, was renamed the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC). UWIC secured research degree awarding powers in 2009. Following the dissolution of the University of Wales, the University was renamed Cardiff Metropolitan University (Cardiff Met) in 2011. The University regards itself as a global university rooted in Wales with the purpose of delivering high-quality and high-impact, practice-focused and professionally-recognised education to students from around the globe.

Dr Jacqui Boddington, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Student Engagement at Cardiff Met, said: ‘We are delighted with the outcome of the University’s Review and particularly pleased that the panel commended our commitment to working in partnership with the student body to ensure quality across the entirety of the student learning journey - both in Cardiff and internationally. It was especially gratifying to note the panel’s recognition of the significant work across our academic, professional services and student communities to support student learning during COVID-19 pandemic.

‘We are extremely grateful to the QAA and to the panel for their approach and diligence within the particular challenges of the pandemic, and the associated delays to the review process.’

QAA’s report also makes a number of recommendations, asking that:

• Arrangements for supporting student representation in partnership institutions are applied consistently and effectively.
• The University ensures that all postgraduate research students who teach undertake appropriate formal training before taking responsibility for teaching including specific training for online delivery where appropriate.
• The University ensures that its requirements for handling academic complaints and appeals are fully understood by all partners and that these requirements are clearly and consistently communicated to all partner students.