1 November 2006

To	Heads of HEFCE-funded higher education institutions Heads of HEFCE-funded further education colleges Heads of LSC-funded further education colleges in receipt of indirect HEFCE funding Heads of universities in Northern Ireland

Direct Line	0117 931 7300
Direct Fax	0117 931 7203

Circular letter number 23/2006

For further information contact Louisa Baker, tel 0117 931 7106, e-mail l.baker@hefce.ac.uk

Dear Vice-Chancellor or Principal

Development of TQI and the NSS

1. In July 2006 we wrote to institutions with an update on Teaching Quality Information (TQI) and the National Student Survey (NSS) - HEFCE Circular letter 16/2006. We advised that the review of the TQI and NSS was likely to recommend that summaries of external examiner reports should no longer be published on the TQI site. The review outcomes have now been published as HEFCE 2006/45, 'Review of the Quality Assurance Framework: phase two outcomes'. As well as setting out the review group's recommendations, that document outlines in broad terms how we will implement the changes to TQI and the NSS, and the implications for institutions.

2. This letter describes the more specific plans and proposals for TQI and the NSS, and invites comments on some of these proposals.

Actions for institutions

3. Higher education institutions (HEIs) should provide the requested contact details for students to be included in the 2007 NSS, to Ipsos MORI, by 15 November 2006.

4. HEIs and further education colleges (FECs) should:

complete the form at Annex B, and return it directly to UCAS, by 15 November 2006;
respond to the proposals in this letter by e-mailing the form at Annex E, to tqinss@hefce.ac.uk, by 6 December 2006.

2007 National Student Survey

5. The 2006 NSS was successfully completed earlier this year, and results were published in August. We also commissioned the University of Bristol to undertake a detailed analysis of the results; the reports of that analysis will shortly be published on our web-site.

6. The Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) Review Group recommended that the NSS should be conducted annually for the time being. We will therefore repeat the NSS during 2007. The questionnaire will remain the same, and the timing and methodology will be much the same as last year. However, some improvements will be implemented, as follows:

the algorithm for identifying students to be included in the 2007 NSS will be the same as for the 2006 NSS, although there will be an additional category of students - those on closed courses - that institutions can exclude from the NSS;
there will be additional efforts to increase online participation in the survey, and reduce further the amount of telephone follow-up, while maintaining a healthy overall response rate. Ipsos MORI will disseminate good practice guidance to institutions on encouraging online responses, and there will be some improvements to the central marketing support offered;
we will pilot a 'bank' of optional additional questions, to provide additional confidential feedback to institutions. For further details, see Annex A;
NHS funded students will take part in the survey for the first time in 2007. The same questionnaire will be used, however a set of additional questions will be asked covering student experiences in their placement year. These students will therefore be asked to complete the survey via the online method only. We will be in touch with these institutions shortly to confirm the arrangements for the survey.

7. HEIs can access their target lists for the 2007 NSS, via the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data collection system, on submission of their 2005-06 data this autumn. They should provide the requested contact details for students on these lists, to Ipsos MORI, by 15 November 2006.

8. Ipsos MORI will liaise directly with its NSS contacts at HEIs with further details of the 2007 NSS, and options for timing and for marketing materials. HEIs will be able to select one of five starting weeks for their survey, from 8 January 2007.

Relaunch of the TQI site

9. As outlined in HEFCE 2006/45, we have commissioned UCAS to re-design and launch a more user-focused web-site in summer 2007, in line with the QAF Review Group recommendations.

10. This will involve providing all institutions with new facilities to review quantitative data before publication, add commentaries on the data and links back to the institution's own site, and monitor usage of the future TQI site. Institutions should inform UCAS of their main contact, who will be responsible for registering users of these facilities within the institution. All HEIs and FECs with HE provision should complete and return the form at Annex B, by 15 November 2006.

11. The design of the site will draw on user feedback about the current site, and new designs will be trialled and tested with user groups throughout the development phase. A key priority will be to present the data in a user-friendly way. We also want to ensure that the site provides a good level of coverage at an appropriate level of detail. Annex C sets out proposals to improve the way that data are organised and the protocols that are applied to them, including:

improvements to the subject classification used on the site;
lowering the thresholds for publishing NSS results;
principles for aggregating data across years and across subject areas.

12. Annex C also proposes:

that a summary of key statistics should be made available on the site;
that a summary of the institution's profile of students should be added, to provide contextual statistics about the make-up of an institution's student body.

Higher education in FECs

13. HEFCE Circular letter 09/2006, 'Teaching quality information for higher education in further education colleges', outlined our plans for incorporating data about HE in FECs (in England) into the future TQI site. This has implications for both the FECs concerned, and their validating or franchising HEIs. Annex D sets out further details, and invites comments on the proposed approach to reflecting the relationships between FECs and HEIs on the site.

Consultation response

14. We welcome comments on the proposals at Annexes C and D. The response form (Annex E) is available below. Responses should be e-mailed to tqinss@hefce.ac.uk, by 6 December 2006.

15. These proposals, and the development of TQI and the NSS more generally, will also be discussed at a national conference on 23 November, 'The future of TQI and the NSS'.

16. The TQI/NSS Steering Group, which has a UK-wide remit to oversee the development of the TQI site and the NSS, will consider the consultation responses in finalising its recommendations and steering the project.

Yours sincerely

Professor David Eastwood
Chief Executive

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NB: The hard copy of this letter contained an error in Annex C, paragraph 10. This has been amended in the web version.