Valérie Berdah-Levy, School Director, Istituto Marangoni London
Istituto Marangoni London is part of an internationally established group of fashion and design schools originating in Italy, and has been present in London for over 20 years. We are a small specialist provider, registered with the OfS in the approved category, offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees validated by Regent's University London.
The School has been planning its application for Full Degree Awarding Powers (DAPs) for a number of years and success is key to our institutional strategy. We have therefore sought independent external feedback on our DAPs submission in order to ensure that it is as strong as possible and puts us in a good position at the start of the application process.
QAA has many years of experience conducting DAPs assessments and therefore has a level of expertise that makes it the natural choice to work with us pre-application to review our self-assessment document and evidence and to provide feedback that will help us to improve our submission.
The process of working with QAA was clear and well organised. Key deadline dates were set well in advance and we were able to integrate the review process into our internal timelines. The report provided was comprehensive and well written, with clear recommendations for enhancing our DAPs submission.
Gathering external feedback on our DAPs submission has been part of a self-critical approach to organisational development, with the DAPs criteria acting as a catalyst for a range of enhancement projects across the institution. We plan to continue to use the DAPs service as we prepare for visits from the assessment team, to help us to ensure that we can fully articulate our readiness for DAPs during the scrutiny period.
As a result of our engagement with QAA’s DAPs pre-application service we have gained confidence in our strengths while continuing to identify and address those areas in which we can improve as we work towards our strategic goal of gaining degree awarding powers and, ultimately, university title.