Review team expresses confidence in Heriot-Watt University's quality arrangements

A review by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) has expressed confidence in Heriot-Watt University's progress in continuing to monitor, review and enhance its higher education provision to enable effective arrangements to be in place for managing academic standards and the quality of the student experience.

The review was carried out by a team of three independent reviewers who were appointed by QAA. The review visit took place on 29-30 April 2024.

The team identified the following areas of good practice:

• The University maintains the quality of its provision on a global scale to support ‘One Heriot-Watt’ as a single, global institution in which all campuses have equal standing. The global strategy drives the nature and ambition of the international activity and the wide range of opportunities for multi-location, multi-mode study.
   
• The University is commended on its development of a robust, enhancement-focused approach featuring clear recommendations for improvement and areas of positive practice, which not only gives the University effective oversight of global quality and standards but has also helped to develop multi-campus teaching and management teams.

QAA also made the following recommendations:

• The University reviews its processes to ensure that external examiner reports are easily and routinely made available to students, including those who do not hold representative roles.

• The University ensures that its requirements in relation to risk management and ownership for collaborative provision are understood by all School staff concerned with the management of collaborative provision.

Professor Richard A Williams, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University, said: ‘We are delighted with the outcomes of the QESR report and review, which has confirmed confidence Heriot-Watt University’s global approaches to assuring quality and academic standards and enhancing student learning experience. As a global institution, we welcomed the external review team’s identification of our global vision and related strategic and operational activity as features of good practice, and were also pleased that our global academic review process was commended. These outcomes are testament to the strong collaboration between students and staff across Heriot-Watt worldwide, and I would like to thank everyone who contributed to such a successful review.’

You can read the full Quality and Enhancement Standards Review report for Heriot-Watt University on the QAA website.