Thinkpieces

QME to excellence

The QAA subject review in 2000/01 on business and management courses uncovered a serious and deeply worrying problem. Of the seven standard topics reviewed, the poorest results were in Quality Management Enhancement (QME). In fact, over half the 148 institutions surveyed were given a rating of 2 or less out of 4.

Engaged and intense: high tech, high touch learning

In designing a course of study and a curriculum over a year, a semester, a week, a day or an hour, there is a need to choreograph the tempo and intensity of the learning experiences. 10 weeks packed full of high-engagement experiences might simply lead to burn-out, every bit as debilitating as 10 weeks of boredom resulting from pure transmission learning.

Transformative quality for business schools

QAA and the use of commercial models such as EFQM place a heavy burden on academic institutions. A lighter touch, focusing on ‘transformative quality’, where schools and departments undertake their own quality initiatives in a bottom-up approach, may be the way forward.