Quality Assurance and Enhancement
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The work of the team
Our Quality Assurance and Enhancement team is responsible for the development and implementation of our quality assurance processes and procedures, and provides support to academic and support staff, our student body, and staff and students at our collaborative partners.
Our work includes the development and implementation of quality assurance processes for:
- programme approval and modification;
- annual monitoring and periodic review;
- the external examiner system;
- institutional approval and ongoing due diligence for our collaborative partners;
- approval and review of programmes with our collaborative partners;
- aspects of student feedback mechanisms, such as Module Evaluation and the Your Voice Counts programme survey;
- working with our Student Union to train student representatives.
Our Services
We service a great number of UEL's committees, especially those which report into Academic Board, such as the Quality and Standards Committee, and the Regulations Committee, and even some of their sub-committees. We also help to train servicing officers of other committees.
We lead UEL's preparations for any external reviews, and can also provide support to our collaborative partners undertaking similar reviews. We can also provide support to schools when preparing for visits by their respective Professional, Statutory or Regulatory Bodies, so please do ask us for support.
We keep an eye on any changes to external frameworks, and ensure that we update our processes and guidance where we need to.
We offer other types of staff development, so we train staff to chair collaborative validation and review events; provide training on our annual monitoring (REP) process; we also help support link tutors and also student representatives for their programmes.
We do some of the processing for the extenuation process.
Because we have institutional oversight of our processes, we are also able to understand where enhancements and improvements have been made, or can be made. We work with various teams, such as our Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and our Literacy and Language Services team.
Where do I find details of our quality processes and procedures?
These are available in our Quality Manual, which is available on our governance pages .There are also guidance and other templates available to support you with your work. You can also contact our team members - their contact details are below.
We work closely with our academic colleagues, with team members partnering with specific schools to provide support and guidance on quality processes. Each school has its own quality leader and its own quality committee, and we help to support these as well, but we believe that we are all responsible for quality within our work.
Team members are also responsible for particular processes - details are below. We are always happy to help with any queries - or listen to recommendations for enhancements to our practice.
Course Committees at UEL
Course Committees consisting of trained student representatives (Course Reps) and Course and Module Leaders meet once per term. Representatives from Professional Service teams across the institution are also in attendance. In these meetings Course Reps will provide feedback from their cohort on their experience with particular reference to teaching, assessment and feedback, academic support, resources and services, organisation and management and where necessary apprenticeship management. These meetings are designed as an opportunity to gather student feedback and provide students with a response to any concerns. Course Leaders will also highlight any proposed amendments to courses in these meetings.
Course Rep Training
The Students' Union provide training to Course Reps. If you are a Course Rep you will be able to access the training via Moodle. This means that when you have been elected Course Representative training should appear under My Courses. The training has three modules, please allow yourself 1.5 hours to complete.
If you have been elected as a Course Rep cannot see the training in Moodle please email the Students' Union students.union@uel.ac.uk
Please see below for useful Course Committee documentation:
The Quality Assurance and Enhancement (QAE) team is based at the Docklands Campus EB.1.60
Helen Fitch - Head of Quality Assurance and Enhancement
Roles: Lead on QAE policy and practice across UEL;
Email: H.Fitch@uel.ac.uk
Dominique Jethwa - Quality Manager (Student Engagement)
Roles: Works with Schools, staff and UELSU officers to maximise student representation on university and programme committees. Delivers staff development activities regarding student feedback and quality systems. Manages UEL's module based processes for student feedback. Manages the quality-based aspects of UEL's engagement with external surveys, such as NSS and PTES, primarily relating to the outcomes of these surveys. Co-ordinates the publication of programme handbook and module guide templates. Provides advice and guidance on quality assurance systems and procedures.
E-mail: d.jethwa@uel.ac.uk
Vikki Manning - Quality Manager (Collaborations)
Roles: Provides advice and guidance on quality assurance systems and procedures particularly in relation to collaborative activity; co-ordinates processes that lead to approval of new collaborative partnerships and manages quality processes in relation to collaborative partners; drafts and updates Memoranda of Co-operation; staff development activities; represents QAE on UEL's Partnership Committee and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust Academic Governance and Quality Assurance Committee.
E-mail: v.manning@uel.ac.uk
Philip Brimson - Quality Manager (Validation & Review)
Roles: Provides advice and guidance on quality assurance systems and procedures; assists with the co-ordination of the QAE Office activities; manages the validation and review schedule; manages the advice and support provision for Quality Assurance activity in Colleges; Chairs the University Short Course Panel; maintains institutional records of validated programmes; conducts staff development activities; represents QAE on the University Education and Experience Committee; audits Validation and Review activity; co-ordinates and chairs External Examiner appointment and annual reporting and auditing systems; and manages the Annual Audit of Quality Assurance.
E-mail: p.brimson@uel.ac.uk
Louis Clark - Quality Manager (Apprenticeships Compliance)
Roles: Responsible for managing all aspects of quality assurance and regulatory
E-mail: L.J.Clark@uel.ac.uk