Key features of subject review

The self-evaluation document

The self-evaluation document is the starting point for subject review and fulfils two important functions by:

• encouraging departments/schools to evaluate the quality of learning opportunities and standards achieved
• providing a framework for subject review through the testing of the statements made by the department/school

The self-evaluation document is similar to the self-assessment document used in the current method and should genuinely evaluate the weaknesses as well as the strengths of current provision.

Programme specification

Programme specifications for each degree course covered by the review are annexed to the self-evaluation document and are intended to provide a reference point for evaluating curriculum design and the methods and strategies used to promote, support and assess learning.

Programme specifications are expected to set out:

• the intended learning outcomes of the course
• the teaching and learning methods that enable students to achieve these outcomes and the methods of assessment used
• the relationship of the course to the qualifications framework

Programme specifications should make intended outcomes explicit in terms of knowledge, understanding, skills and other attributes. Note that rather than ‘aims and objectives’, programme specifications use the term ‘outcomes’, as the QAA argues that, as a concept, it is more closely linked to the learning and assessment process.

Separate programme specifications are not required for every possible pathway within a modular structure. For joint honours, or similar combined studies programmes, a short statement of the rationale for the combination should accompany the programme specifications for each subject.

Your institution may have adopted a standard template for programme specifications or may permit departments/schools to devise their own. You will need to consult your central institutional quality contact about the policy on programme specifications. Broad guidelines on programme specifications are provided by the QAA.

Code of practice

The QAA publishes a code of practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education that addresses individual areas of academic management. Eight sections of the code have been published at the time of writing, and at least three more are in preparation.

One year after publication institutions are expected to be able to demonstrate that they are meeting all of the requirements set out in each section of the code. All of these sections will therefore apply to those subjects reviewed from spring 2002.

The sections published so far are:

• postgraduate research programmes
• collaborative provision*
• students with disabilities
• external examining*
• academic appeals and student complaints
• assessment of students*
• programme approval, monitoring and review*
• career education, information and guidance
• admissions (draft)
• placement learning (draft)

The four sections of the code marked with an asterisk* relate directly to quality and standards, and will be used by reviewers as a background against which to make judgements on subject provision and institutional management.

Your approaches to each of these four sections will therefore come under close scrutiny as part of subject review. Work will be required to ensure that departments/schools are conforming to the requirements laid down in the four key sections of the code it is likely that you will find that the
code on assessment is the one for which most work will be required.

Law benchmark statement

The law benchmark statement represents the minimum achievement of a graduate with an honours Bachelors degree in Law or Legal Studies.

According to the QAA, benchmark statements are ‘about the conceptual framework that gives a discipline its coherence and identity; about the intellectual capacity and understanding that should be developed through the study of the discipline to the level in question; the techniques and skills which are associated with developing understanding in the discipline; and the intellectual demand and challenge appropriate to study of the discipline to the level in question’.

You will be expected be able to demonstrate how the law subject benchmark statement (and any other relevant ones for joint programmes) has been used to inform decisions about intended outcomes of your programmes.

Reviewers will use the law benchmark statement to establish that the design of curricula facilitates:

• acquisition of knowledge and understanding
• acquisition of cognitive skills
• acquisition of subject-specific skills including practical and professional skills
• acquisition of transferable skills
• progression to employment and/or further study

It is unclear how much emphasis will be placed on benchmark statements, which are described by the QAA as ‘points of reference’ for subject reviewers. However, each department/school will have to be able to demonstrate that the intended learning outcomes for students following its courses are exceeding the threshold standard set out in the law benchmark statement.

National qualifications framework

The QAA’s line is that its framework of higher education qualifications provides reference points for determining whether the intended outcomes for programmes and actual student achievement on a particular programme are appropriate to the levels of qualification awarded.

The final version of the national qualifications framework was published in November 2000. Institutions will have to be able to demonstrate that all students commencing courses after the start of the academic year 2003/04 will gain, on successful completion, qualifications that will be awarded in accordance with the framework. Progress in implementing the framework will be examined as part of subject review.

Last Modified: 30 June 2010