A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

192 ❘
Teaching, supervising, learning
• the Code of Practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher
education;
• the Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications;
• subject benchmark statements.
Teaching Quality Enhancement Funds (TQEF)
Since 2000, HEFCE has provided enhancement funds (TQEF) for learning and teaching
strategies; supporting professional standards; student and staff volunteering; and new
funding to support teaching informed by research. The main strategic purpose of this
funding is to embed and sustain learning and teaching strategies and activities, and to
encourage future institutional investment in continuous improvement. At national level,
TQEF has supported the CETL and National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS)
programmes.
Programme specifications
Programme specifications were introduced in 1999 to make the outcomes of learning
more explicit and to relate programmes and awards to the qualifications frameworks.
Teaching teams are required to produce programme specifications for every programme
that an HEI runs, often using a specified template. The specifications require the
essential elements of a programme to be synthesised into a brief set of statements,
however complex. The elements include the intended learning outcomes of a programme
(specific, measurable intentions expressed as what learners will be able to do in terms of
knowledge, understanding, skills and other attributes); teaching and learning methods;
assessment; career opportunities and relationship of the programme to the qualifications
framework. Programme specifications also provide a basis for the university (through
quality assurance committees and boards), students, employers and external reviewers
to assure quality at programme level.
Progress files
The student progress file helps students and employers understand the outcomes of
learning in higher education. It comprises three interlinked elements:
1 transcript – a formal record of learning and achievement provided by the institution;
2 personal and development planning (PDP) – a process owned and produced by the
student in liaison with staff;
3 individual students’ personal records of achievements, progress reviews and
plans.