QAA shares highlights of the membership year to date

We are delighted to publish highlights of our membership year to date, alongside public webpages to ensure we are sharing details of the work we carry out with and for our members.

Highlights of the membership year include:

• Guiding members through COVID-19 - over 30 resources have been developed, supporting the maintenance of standards and quality during the pandemic. The guidance was described by one vice-chancellor as ‘an essential resource’ and ‘sector leading’ by a pro-vice-chancellor.
• Thought leadership - we launched our new Quality Compass series, helping members navigate the higher education quality landscape, alongside research on data-led decision making and new guidance on Education for Sustainable Development, developed jointly with Advance HE.
• Influencing - we hosted roundtable discussions with government ministers and special advisers to help shape thinking around flexible student pathways and helping support students on accredited courses to graduate.
• Networking - we introduced breakfast briefings for our network of pro-vice-chancellors, described by one participant as a ‘safe space for senior leaders to discuss policy issues and share practice’, and formed a network for college members.
• Strengthening partnerships and fostering collaboration - we launched our new programme of Collaborative Enhancement Projects and are supporting 13 projects, each led by a QAA Member, with a further 55 partners involved. In addition, working collaboratively with our members, we updated the Higher Education Credit Framework for England.
• Leveraging international partnerships - we have worked with governments, agencies and institutions in over 28 countries around the world. One pro-vice-chancellor said that ‘being part of QAA Membership helps to assure the high standards and quality that maintain UK higher education’s global reputation’.
• Academic integrity - we launched the Academic Integrity Charter to tackle academic misconduct and contract cheating, which already has over 110 signatories. All of our members are encouraged to sign as confirmation of their commitment to promoting academic integrity.
• Provision of resources for our members - we have published 104 new resources in the current membership year so far, and received a rating of 4.5/5 from our members on the quality of the content we have delivered.

Professor Rebecca Huxley-Binns, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education), University of Hull, said: ‘The value of QAA Membership is in shifting our discussions, enabling us to take decisions informed by the wider context of sector best practice. This has speeded up our conversations and ensured the decisions we are making continue to benefit our students.’

A summary document detailing the highlights is available, with full details of our work in QAA Membership published on our new web pages.