Looking towards the future: prospects and challenges arising from the Joint Planning Group’s proposals for new quality assurance arrangements
| Pages | 136-141 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684889710174468 |
| Date | 01 September 1997 |
| Published date | 01 September 1997 |
| Author | Jethro Newton |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Introduction
In 1992, following the disappearance of the
binary line and the creation of 39 new univer-
sities, the higher education sector faced the
challenging prospect of adjusting to a new
external quality assurance system. Five years
on, with a new Quality Assurance Agency for
Higher Education having been formally estab-
lished on 1 April 1997, and a new quality
process, combining audit and assessment, due
for implementation from October 1998, a
similar challenge again faces the sector. As the
newly appointed chairman of the new agency
has acknowledged (Kenyon, 1997), the
agency itself faces difficult tasks too.
It is evident that the Final Report of the Joint
Planning Group for Quality Assurance in Higher
Education (JPG, 1996) is a historic document
and that its publication signals the
commencement of a new era in the evolution
of a national quality assurance framework. If
the proposals contained in the report are fully
worked through, what exists in ten or even five
years’ time will be quite different from that
which exists now. Together with the outcomes
of the Dearing Review, the impact on the
sector will be considerable.
The Joint Planning Group (JPG) had been
established during the summer of 1995 fol-
lowing an initiative by the HEFCE, CVCP
and SCOP, and was accepted as a way for-
ward by the then Secretary of State for Educa-
tion and Employment. The aspiration of the
sector regarding the eventual outcome has
been clear throughout: any new regime or set
of arrangements should facilitate a way for-
ward which will enable the purposes of audit,
assessment and professional and statutory
body (PSB) accreditation to be met, the
perceived burden of quality reduced, any
duplication avoided, and intrusion mini-
mized. The terms of reference of the JPG
were equally clear: the external monitoring
system should ensure that the funding coun-
cils continue to meet their statutory duty,
hence securing accountability; information of
a comparable nature should be available to
external stakeholders; quality enhancement,
and institutions’ capacity to improve continu-
ously, should be a priority.
The JPG report contains proposals which
are described as a “a blueprint for the future
rather than an operational manual” (JPG,
1996, executive summary). Therefore, to
date, much is yet to be known, and predicting
future scenarios accurately with any confi-
dence is difficult. Even so, the possible shape
136
Looking towards the
future: prospects and
challenges arising from
the Joint Planning
Group’s proposals for
new quality assurance
arrangements
Jethro Newton
The author
Jethro Newton is Head of the Academic Office, North
East Wales Institute, Wrexham, UK.
Abstract
Reviews key elements of the Joint Planning Group’s
proposals for new quality assurance arrangements.
Identifies some challenges, prospects and opportunities
for institutions arising in the context of the proposed
arrangements. Notes the Joint Planning Group’s emphasis
on partnership and argues that a focus on self-regulation
may provide the basis of a way forward for future develop-
ment for the sector, the new quality agency and those who
contract with it.
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 5 · Number 3 · 1997 · pp. 136–141
© MCB University Press · ISSN 0968-4883
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