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Circular letter number 04/2005
For further information contact Julian Martin, tel 0117 931 7070, e-mail j.martin@hefce.ac.uk
Dear Vice-Chancellor or Principal
Teaching Quality Information web-site
1. I am aware there have been concerns about the implementation of the Teaching Quality Information (TQI) web-site. I am therefore writing to provide an update on developments, invite comments on the proposed subject groupings to be used on the site, and also to inform further education colleges (FECs) about the approach to incorporating them onto the site.
2. Comments on the subject groupings should be made by 18 March 2005 (see Annex A). In addition, directly-funded FECs are asked to nominate a contact for HERO, by 31 March 2005 (see Annex D).
Summary of progress
3. The TQI site aims to publish reliable and accessible information about the quality and standards of teaching, to help inform the choices of students and others, and to contribute to public accountability.
4. Following a pilot exercise, in October 2003 we published guidance on TQI (HEFCE 2003/51). We set out the intended timetable to launch the site by summer 2004, with a complete set of data (excluding the National Student Survey) to be available by December 2004. Since that publication, HERO has constructed the site and provided higher education institutions (HEIs) with training and support to enable them to populate it with their reports. The site went live in August 2004, albeit with limited information. HEIs were also provided with their HESA data in the TQI format, for reviewing.
5. However, as the site developed it became apparent that the quantitative data would require more detailed review than allowed for within the published timetable, and that further consideration would be needed about the subject structure. The process of HEIs reviewing their TQI data highlighted varied practice across the sector in recording data, and there has been a greater than anticipated need by institutions to review their HESA data when presented to them in the TQI format. Unfortunately, the review process was complicated by problems experienced at HERO in providing institutions with an accurate and user-friendly preview of their data in this format.
6. In addition, given the lack of a stable time series for some aspects of the data, we found that initially data could only be produced at a level of subject detail that was broader than intended. At the same time, the summer 2004 consultation on the National Student Survey highlighted limitations in using the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS), to structure data on the site.
7. Following some concerns raised by institutions, we agreed with HERO that the quantitative data should not be added to the site until the technical issues were resolved and HEIs had ample time to review and understand their data. We believe that these issues have now been resolved, and the first set of HESA data will be added to the site at the end of February 2005. Nevertheless, these data remain limited in terms of the level of subject detail, and some tables are being withheld following requests by individual institutions, on the basis that the underlying data problems will be addressed for the future.
8. Given the limitations of the information currently on the TQI site and the need to review the subject structure, we have asked HERO to present the site clearly as 'under development', and not to actively publicise it yet. We are aware that the site would benefit from a number of improvements, in addition to the issues related to the HESA data. This gives HERO, working with others, an opportunity to improve the site before the public launch.
9. Thus we do not anticipate that at this stage the site will be used significantly by applicants. It is nevertheless important to continue populating it to schedule, so that HERO and the site's sponsors can obtain developmental feedback, but also to avoid an unduly long gap in public accountability regarding the quality of teaching at the subject level, since the completion of subject review by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) in 2001.
Planned developments
10. In terms of planned developments of the site:
The subject structure will be revised so that future datasets will be made available at a more detailed subject level. During January 2005 we consulted through a series of events about a proposed new subject structure for publishing NSS results. Delegates agreed strongly that such a structure should apply to the TQI site overall, but requested an opportunity for further consultation on the details. Annexes A and B set out the structure now being proposed for the TQI site, and invite comments by 18 March 2005.
We expect that both centrally and in institutions other issues related to the HESA data will be ironed out for future datasets. By summer 2005 a second dataset will be added to the site, using the agreed subject structure. In addition, HERO will work with HESA to improve the review process for HEIs in future, and this should become less burdensome as it becomes more routine.
We intend to add directly-funded HE in FECs to the site by summer 2005, with links to relevant information such as academic review reports by the QAA. In the longer term we will investigate ways of improving teaching quality information for all HE in FECs (directly and indirectly funded). Annex C provides further details, and Annex D asks directly-funded FECs to nominate their HERO contacts, by 31 March 2005.
The results of the National Student Survey will be incorporated into the site, from late summer 2005. In January 2005 we consulted, through a series of events, on methods for displaying these results. Papers from the events and a summary of the consultation outcomes are available on the HEFCE web-site, www.hefce.ac.uk under Learning and teaching/National Student Survey. Once the subject structure has been agreed during March, we will provide institutions with the opportunity to review how each of their students involved in the survey features within the reporting structure.
The site will be extended to include the whole UK, although in some areas the datasets will differ, and a Welsh-language mirror site will be provided for HEIs in Wales.
Through agreement with the QAA, the TQI site may also incorporate privately-funded HEIs that subscribe to the QAA.
11. In taking these developments forward, HERO will consult with an advisory group including Universities UK, SCOP, the Association of Colleges, and other relevant stakeholders and agencies. It is also setting up a consultative group of HEI staff involved in TQI, and a group of prospective users. HERO would value constructive feedback from institutions and others during this developmental phase.
12. The four UK HE funding bodies have provided HERO with additional resources to increase its capacity to manage and develop the TQI site, and to support HEIs and end users. We are also funding a project based at the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University to gather and evaluate feedback from early users of the site, and make recommendations to HERO and the sponsoring bodies for improvements to the site during its initial years.
13. By summer 2005, we expect substantial progress in a number of these areas, and that the site will provide accurate, accessible and appropriately detailed information. At that stage we will, with HERO and others, publicise and launch the site across the UK, with a campaign aimed primarily at potential applicants for 2006, and their advisers.
14. It will be important that by the launch in summer 2005 the site is fully populated, and hence it is important that HEIs continue to publish their reports, including summaries of external examiners' reports, from the 2003-04 academic year, as outlined in HEFCE 2003/51. When QAA audit teams consider an institution's public information, as part of the audit process, it is likely that their conclusions will be informed by the track record of the institution in publishing reports in a timely manner.
15. From summer 2005 onwards, we expect the TQI site to be a valuable resource for prospective students and others. It will provide an efficient way for institutions to meet their public reporting obligations under the quality assurance framework, and indeed a number of obligations under the Freedom of Information Act. At the same time the site will continue to improve and evolve for some years, in response to user feedback, and in the light of the forthcoming formal review. This will be undertaken from summer 2005 by the joint HEFCE/UUK/SCOP Quality Assurance Framework Review Group, chaired by Dame Sandra Burslem, and will include research with the site's intended audiences.
Yours sincerely
Sir Howard Newby
Chief Executive
Download
Annexes A, C and D
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Annex B
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