Summary note from University College Winchester

for QUBE meeting at City University 28 September 2004

This plan addresses solely the priority allocated to UCW of involving students more effectively in quality assurance processes.  There will need to be an investigation of what processes are currently used to involve students and the effectiveness of those processes.  This will lead to suggestions for improvement.  To support the investigation we will need to gain an understanding of the issues which commonly concern students.  The concerns of particular sub-groups of students will be identified and processes to meet them defined.

In more detail the investigation will have three objectives.  Against each of these some starting points have been noted.  Others will no doubt emerge.

• The existing processes for involving students:
  Formal mechanisms; informal mechanisms; focus of involvement – module, group, department, faculty, institution; when - before course, during course, after course.
• Common concerns:
  Extent and timeliness of feedback, adequacy and appropriateness of resources, quality of teaching.
• Concerns of some special groups:
  part-time students; students on work placements; students with disabilities; international students.

The following actions will be taken.  Each one will almost certainly address more than one of the above objectives.

• Contact student bodies including the NUS, SU at UCW and SUs in other institutions.
• Contact relevant people within several representative institutions chosen for variability of size, background (pre and post 1992), and QME scores.  The respondents would be groups of students, business staff, registry or quality support office and managers such as deans of faculty.  Focussed interviews would be used and students would be chosen from all years.
• Analysis of QAA reports for Business subject review.  All reports would be analysed for examples of good and bad practice relating to student involvement.  The results would help to guide the choice of institutions to contact.
• Develop case studies of student involvement (or lack of it).
• Literature search on student involvement and, more widely, the role of customers in quality processes.

David Rush