The concept of programme specification and its application in the new quality assurance framework
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880010356057 |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Pages | 164-172 |
| Author | Norman J. Jackson |
| Subject Matter | Education |
The concept of
programme
specification and its
application in the new
quality assurance
framework
Norman J. Jackson
Policy context
Since 1992, UK universities have been
subject to external scrutiny and checks on the
quality of their provision and their
arrangements for assuring quality and
standards. There has been a progressive move
towards more explicit specification of what is
expected of institutional quality assurance
systems and processes and a shift in the focus
of national QA from one geared towards
establishing a pervasive culture of QA to an
expectation that culture and practice exist.
Following a national debate on academic
standards in the mid-1990s (Higher
Education Quality Council, 1997) and an
inquiry into HE chaired by Lord Dearing
(National Committee of Inquiry into Higher
Education, 1997), there has been a shift in the
focus of national QA from the quality of
education and teaching to the quality of
learning and outcome standards.
In 1997 the Quality Assurance Agency was
formed and given the job of creating and
maintaining a new national framework for the
assurance of quality and standards formulated
around the recommendations of the National
Committee of Inquiry. The new quality
assurance framework will be implemented in
Scotland from September 2000 and in the
rest of the UK from September 2001.
Descriptions of, and commentary on,
emergent policy can be found in QAA
documents (1998a, b, 1999a, b, c, 2000a, b,
c, d, e, f; http://www.qaa.ac.uk), Jackson
(1998a, b, 1999) and Brown (1998) and
many pieces in the Times Higher Education
Supplement!
The main elements of the policy framework
are:
.qualification frameworks (for Scotland
and the rest of the UK) on which
institutional awards, credit for
achievement and programmes/modules
can be positioned;
.programme specifications that will enable
HEIs to describe the main learning
outcomes for a programme and show how
programmes, modules and awards are
The author
Norman J. Jackson is a Senior Research Fellow at the
University of Surrey and a Senior Professional Adviser to
the Generic Learning and Teaching Centre and Learning
and Teaching Support Network.
Keywords
Higher education, Quality assurance, Specifications,
Learning, Outcomes
Abstract
The article introduces the idea of programme specification
and background to the development of policy by the
Quality Assurance Agency. Programme specification will
promote an outcomes approach to learning and the
specification of standards across UK higher education and
provide the basis for a new national quality assurance
framework that focuses primarily on academic standards.
It argues that the process of producing and justifying
programme specifications will have an important
influence on academic and quality assurance practices
and the product (the programme specification) will result
in new types of information about higher education
learning.
Electronic access
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emerald-library.com
The views expressed by the author should not be
taken to represent the views of the Quality
Assurance Agency or the Generic Learning and
Teaching Centre whose views are formally
expressed in their publications and press
statements.
164
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 8 .Number 4 .2000 .pp. 164±172
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0968-4883
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