15.01.2015 Views

QUALITY ENHANCEMENT COMMITTEE Terms of reference and ...

QUALITY ENHANCEMENT COMMITTEE Terms of reference and ...

QUALITY ENHANCEMENT COMMITTEE Terms of reference and ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

1<br />

<strong>QUALITY</strong> <strong>ENHANCEMENT</strong> <strong>COMMITTEE</strong><br />

<strong>Terms</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>reference</strong> <strong>and</strong> constitution<br />

The Quality Enhancement Committee [QEC], which reports to the Academic Board,<br />

is the principal College body concerned with monitoring <strong>and</strong> enhancing the quality <strong>of</strong><br />

the College’s teaching <strong>and</strong> learning provision.<br />

The QEC is responsible for:<br />

1. developing College-wide strategies to encourage high quality practice in teaching<br />

<strong>and</strong> learning, <strong>and</strong> advising the Academic Board <strong>and</strong> other College bodies on<br />

initiatives to achieve this;<br />

2. reviewing College procedures in the light <strong>of</strong> information on best practice<br />

nationally, <strong>and</strong> encouraging faculties <strong>and</strong> departments to adopt improvements in<br />

order to enhance the quality <strong>of</strong> the programmes <strong>of</strong> study within the College;<br />

3. developing <strong>and</strong> maintaining College-wide quality assurance <strong>and</strong> enhancement<br />

procedures <strong>and</strong> codes <strong>of</strong> practice, <strong>and</strong> ensuring that these meet the requirements<br />

<strong>and</strong> expectations <strong>of</strong> the appropriate national bodies;<br />

4. organisation <strong>of</strong> internal quality audits, <strong>and</strong> the co-ordination <strong>of</strong> arrangements for<br />

external institutional <strong>and</strong> subject-related audits within the College;<br />

5. monitoring the quality assurance <strong>and</strong> enhancement procedures <strong>of</strong> faculty boards<br />

<strong>and</strong> the School Board (or constituted sub-committee), commenting to the<br />

Academic Board upon the outcomes, <strong>and</strong> recommending improvements as<br />

necessary. The QEC will normally leave the detailed annual review <strong>of</strong> programmes<br />

<strong>of</strong> study to the faculty/School boards, but reserves the right, if there are<br />

issues for concern that appear not to have been addressed, to examine the<br />

relevant documentation <strong>and</strong> procedures in detail, in consultation with the relevant<br />

faculty/School board;<br />

6. monitoring the reports <strong>of</strong> external examiners. These are considered by faculty<br />

<strong>and</strong> School boards in the first instance (q.v.), but the QEC has the responsibility<br />

for satisfying itself that departmental <strong>and</strong> faculty-level issues have been properly<br />

addressed, <strong>and</strong> for considering College-wide issues, <strong>and</strong> ensuring that these are<br />

taken forward by the appropriate bodies. It should be noted that, as all external<br />

examiner reports are read on receipt by the Assistant Academic Secretary, any<br />

issues <strong>of</strong> serious concern can be referred immediately to the Chair <strong>of</strong> the QEC,<br />

who will raise the matters with the Chair <strong>of</strong> the examination board or Head <strong>of</strong><br />

Department for urgent action.<br />

7. consideration <strong>of</strong> annual reports from the faculty/School boards on their monitoring<br />

<strong>of</strong> taught programmes <strong>of</strong> study over the previous year; noting the action taken by<br />

the boards in addressing problems, <strong>and</strong> reporting on these to the Academic<br />

Board;<br />

8. monitoring the action taken by faculty <strong>and</strong> School boards in addressing issues<br />

raised in external examiners’ reports, annual reports, or from any other source;<br />

9. the formal approval <strong>of</strong> new programmes <strong>of</strong> study <strong>and</strong> courses on the<br />

recommendation <strong>of</strong> faculty/School boards. The QEC, acting on behalf <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Academic Board, will normally receive <strong>and</strong> approve a list <strong>of</strong> programme <strong>and</strong><br />

course proposals approved by the faculty/ School boards, <strong>and</strong> will only consider


proposals in detail when they involve a programme with a significantly different<br />

structure or presentation from those previous <strong>of</strong>fered;<br />

10. the dissemination <strong>of</strong> good practice across the College;<br />

11. approving, on behalf <strong>of</strong> the Academic Board, the suspension <strong>of</strong> regulations in<br />

respect <strong>of</strong> taught programmes <strong>of</strong> study within the College;<br />

12. determination <strong>of</strong> the criteria for the appointment <strong>of</strong> external examiners, the<br />

consideration <strong>of</strong> nominations for appointment, <strong>and</strong> the approval <strong>of</strong> appointments<br />

<strong>of</strong> external examiners on behalf <strong>of</strong> the Academic Board;<br />

13. monitoring the faculty/School boards’ decisions in respect <strong>of</strong> the arrangements<br />

for special admission, admission with advanced st<strong>and</strong>ing, credit exemption, <strong>and</strong><br />

special examination arrangements to ensure that a coherent <strong>and</strong> consistent<br />

policy is followed throughout the College;<br />

14. monitoring the effectiveness <strong>of</strong> the ‘feedback loops’, which ensure that action on<br />

any issue is reported back to the body or area originally generating the concern.<br />

The membership <strong>of</strong> the QEC includes the Academic Deans <strong>of</strong> the four non-medical<br />

faculties, the Chairs <strong>of</strong> the School Board’s committees dealing with quality <strong>and</strong> taught<br />

courses, <strong>and</strong> six co- opted members; the high number <strong>of</strong> the latter reflects the desire<br />

to draw upon expertise from across the College, <strong>and</strong> to provide a sufficiently large<br />

pool to provide for the membership <strong>of</strong> subject review panels.<br />

The College's Learning, Teaching <strong>and</strong> Assessment Committee is responsible for<br />

monitoring <strong>and</strong> developing the Learning <strong>and</strong> Teaching Strategy, <strong>and</strong> circulating<br />

information to departments on best practice. The QEC also has a Regulations Sub-<br />

Group, responsible for the approval <strong>of</strong> regulations governing academic activity on<br />

behalf <strong>of</strong> the Academic Board.<br />

Extract from: Quality Assurance <strong>and</strong> Quality Enhancement at QMW (March 2000),<br />

updated November 2005

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!