Quality Assurance Policy
Quality Assurance and Enhancement Strategy:
Mont Rose College (MRC) has developed an integrated and systematic approach to the management of academic standards and quality, adopting a range of quality assurance and enhancement policies and procedures, designed to:
- Establish, maintain, monitor and review the academic standards of our awards;
- Enhance the quality of learning opportunities and the student experience at all delivery points.
Aims:
- Quality assurance and enhancement arrangements will be robust but efficient and effective
- Academic standards will continue to be set and maintained effectively and there will be a focus on the continuous improvement of learning, teaching and the student academic experience both on-campus and at partners. This will be informed by independent external input from academic peers and employers.
- There will be a commitment to systematic review, sharing of good practice and the development of mechanisms that further improve the quality of the student academic experience.
- We will enable and encourage students to actively contribute to quality processes, resulting in the continual improvement of the student academic experience.
- Engagement with students and, wherever possible, employers through appropriate representation, consultation and feedback mechanism, will be central to our approach.
- We will use appropriate external and internal reference points, including the QAA’s UK Quality Code for Higher Education and the requirements and expectations of professional, statutory and regulatory bodies (PSRBs).
- The use of external peers in the approval and periodic review of the curriculum will be embedded within our approach.
Quality Assurance and Enhancement Processes:
Mont Rose College quality assurance and enhancement processes are summarised below. They are designed to focus on maintaining academic standards in curriculum design, content, management and delivery of taught courses, student academic experience, student engagement and external quality review.
Approval of taught courses:
The approval process is designed to ensure that:
- MRC subject specific academic standards for taught courses are benchmarked against both national standards, as defined in the QAA’s UK Quality Code for higher Education, and, where appropriate, PSRB requirements;
- module learning outcomes collectively contribute to student achievement of course learning outcomes;
- high quality educational support is provided to enable students to achieve the academic standards set for the course;
- the teaching team is committed to continuous improvement in curriculum delivery
Annual Monitoring (of Taught Courses):
Annual monitoring is designed to ensure that:
- the academic standards set for each course are maintained in its delivery through a process of reflective evaluation by the teaching team;
- an appropriate level of educational support has been provided to enable students to achieve those standards;
- the teaching team has demonstrated a commitment to continuous improvement in curriculum delivery
A SMART action plan is prepared to ensure that action either has been taken or is planned to improve curriculum delivery and to correct any identified weaknesses. Good and innovative practices in learning, teaching and assessment should be identified and endorsed for dissemination to a wider audience.
External Examiner System:
The external examiner system is designed to ensure that the academic standards for each course offered at Mont Rose College are set and maintained at the appropriate level, as demonstrated by student achievement in assessed work. It also enables MRC to compare the standards achieved by its students with those of other UK higher education institutions.
Each external examiner submits a formal written report annually which provides an assurance of academic standards to the Academic/ Quality Assurance Board of MRC.
In case of Pearson approved courses offered at MRC the External Verifier is appointed for each course who audits the academic quality standards, academic facilities and the overall student experience. The External Verifier generates a report leading to the enhancement of future delivery and the continued maintenance of academic standards through the identification of good practice in learning, teaching and assessment which is disseminated throughout the wider academic community.
Quality Enhancement Audit:
The primary purpose of this quality assurance activity is to investigate whether existing internal policies and procedures designed to enhance the student experience in terms of curriculum delivery and management and learning opportunities are working consistently and effectively in practice at all delivery points and are consistent with external reference points.
Quality Enhancement Audit provides an opportunity to monitor, evaluate and review on a College-wide basis any aspect of curriculum delivery and management, and to disseminate across MRC good practices in relation to that topic.
The theme of each quality Enhancement Audit is normally triggered by one of several processes or activities, including the annual monitoring and periodic review of taught courses, or student consultation/ representation systems.
Student Engagement:
The primary purpose of Student Engagement is to actively involve students to contribute in maintaining and developing quality processes.
The monitoring and evaluation of student engagement depends on the implementation of engagement themes as stated in the Student Engagement Strategy.
Information:
The aim here is to ensure high quality taught courses information for students. Ensure that the programme handbooks, course specifications, student handbook and other related documentation all have current information for the students.
Quality Enhancement: Approach:
The on-going development of Mont Rose College quality assurance processes seeks to achieve an integrated, systematic, and coherent approach to quality enhancement. A set of processes have been established which are designed to create and maintain an ethos which expects and encourages the enhancement of learning opportunities.
Mont Rose College’s Quality Enhancement Strategy involves a systematic and coordinated approach to the collation, analysis and use of externally/ internally generated quantitative information to support a range of activates including:
| Quantitative | Qualitative |
| Annual National Student Survey | External Verifier/ Examiner reports |
| TEF Metrics | Student Feedback |
| OFS datasets | Outcome reports on quality audit |
| HESA AP | Student consultation/ Representation systems |
| Statistics of annual monitoring of each award and cohort | Student Surveys? CRC Reports and Meetings? |
