Mindful of its statutory role in Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland – and the vast amount of quality assurance work it performs overseas – the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) decided in July 2022 to demit itself from the Designated Quality Body (DQB) role in England.
The reasoning was straightforward – the Office for Students (OfS) would not permit the QAA to perform the DQB role in a way that was consistent with international standards, thus putting in jeopardy the QAA’s place on the European Association for Quality Assurance (ENQA) register that is a requirement for so much other work.
And that, however we feel about it, should have been that.
However, the Office for Students can never resist getting the last word – and today’s release of a “summary” of the triennial report on the Designated Quality Body is both petty and unnecessary.
