QAA has the privilege of a UK-wide remit, with varying roles across the nations. With this comes a bird’s-eye view of approaches to higher education quality. While the exact way in which higher education is governed, funded and regulated may differ, the devolved nations share a number of key principles in their approaches to quality that help to underpin a high-quality student learning experience. As the sector continues to speculate on what a Westminster election might bring for English higher education, there are lessons that can be learned by looking to our closest neighbours, the UK’s devolved nations.
The first lesson is that devolved nation approaches to quality coalesce around shared standards that are co-created by the sector and meet the needs of the respective funder/regulators. Chief among these is the UK Quality Code – a sector-owned commitment to the key components of a high-quality student learning experience. QAA acts as the custodian for the Code. Commitment to the Code enables recognition and mobility on a cross-UK and international basis, meaning students from across the UK and internationally can expect a comparably high-quality learning experience wherever they study in the UK devolved nations.
Its sector-owned nature reflects institutional autonomy, recognises and embeds sector expertise and encourages cross-border collaboration. Historically, the UK Quality Code has been a shared endeavour across the UK, underpinning cross-UK mobility, knowledge exchange and collaboration. The removal of references to the UK Quality Code from the regulatory framework in England, despite opposition from the sector, has since undermined this UK-wide coherence, though providers in England continue to find the Code an important element of their internal quality assurance practices.
