Internal academic quality audit in UK higher education: part I ‐ current practice and conceptual frameworks
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684889610146181 |
| Date | 01 December 1996 |
| Pages | 37-46 |
| Published date | 01 December 1996 |
| Author | Norman Jackson |
| Subject Matter | Education |
The author
Norman Jackson is Assistant Director of the Quality
Enhancement Group, Higher Education Quality Council,
London.
Abstract
Notes that expansion of academic quality audit method-
ologies within higher education institutions is a significant
recent development in UK quality assurance, reflecting a
shift to more dynamic processes to support self-regulation.
Describes the range of current practice encountered in a
survey of 25 higher education providers and offers a series
of simple conceptual frameworks that help explain the
nature of internal audit processes. A companion article
explores the potential of internal academic quality audit
for contributing to a national quality assurance frame-
work.
Introduction
The UK higher education (HE) system has
one of the most diverse and sophisticated
arrays of internal and external mechanisms
and processes for the evaluation and assur-
ance of the quality and standards of educa-
tion of any national system. The introduc-
tion of academic audit in HE in 1989 by the
CVCP Academic Audit Unit and the subse-
quent development of academic quality
audit by the Quality Assurance Group of
HEQC (Higher Education Quality Coun-
cil), has been mirrored by the internaliza-
tion of the audit process (HEQC, 1994;
1996a). This represents a significant devel-
opment in the evolution of quality assur-
ance systems in UK higher education
reflecting an increasing level of understand-
ing of the structures and processes required
to sustain a self-regulating system in a
climate of increasing accountability. How-
ever, it is also clear that institutions are not
simply copying the approaches and
methodologies developed by HEQC but
are adapting and developing both the con-
cept and the practice of academic quality
audit to suit their own purposes and quality
objectives.
Internal academic quality audit has the
potential for playing an important role in
the evolving national quality assurance
framework and it is therefore both impor-
tant and timely to gain a better understand-
ing of the current use and conceptualiza-
tion of internal audit practice. This article
summarizes the range of current practice,
gained through a survey of 25 HE institu-
tions (HEQC 1996b) and offers a series of
simple conceptual frameworks that help
explain the nature of internal audit process-
es. The work was conducted as part of an
HEQC Quality Enhancement Group
development project which aims to help
institutions improve their capacity for self-
evaluation and self-improvement (Jackson,
1996).
37
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 4 · Number 4 · 1996 · pp. 37–46
© MCB University Press · ISSN 0968-4883
Internal academic
quality audit in UK
higher education:
part I – current practice
and conceptual
frameworks
Norman Jackson
This article is based on the contributions of the
many individuals/institutions who participated in
an HEQC survey of current practice and a work-
shop for institutional auditors held at HEQC, and
contributed comments on an interim survey
report. I would also like to thank my colleagues
Robin Middlehurst and Roger Brown for their
constructive suggestions which helped to improve
my paper.
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