Solitary chicken - need advice

[Leicester_H]

Didn't want to hijack other thread - so started this one- hopes that's OK.

 

The OU is now responsible for monitoring the standards of all the other UK Universities.

Is it - when did that happen?

Having worked in HE all my working life, I'm surprised at this.

 

The University of Leicester still lists its external examiners (who come from all sorts of other Universities) on its website (http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/sas2/assessments/external/current-undergraduate) which states

 

" Current Undergraduate External Examiners

To ensure that the University's external examining arrangements are transparent, we publish the names and home institutions of our external examiners who are currently in post.

 

The role of an external examiner is to consider whether:

- the University is maintaining the threshold academic standards for its awards in accordance with formal expectations at a national level

- our assessment process measure student achievement rigorously and fairly and are conducted in line with University policies and procedures

- the academic standards and the achievement of our students are comparable with those in other higher education institutions.

[Beantree]

That was my understanding LeicesterH, although it was many years ago and perhaps the system has now changed? I used to get the OU newsletters and it was announced in there. It was introduced because some University Degrees were considered of a far higher standard than others, even though they were in the same subject.

 

After completing an OU degree and adding it to my CV no-one ever asked to see the certificate. In some cases I think it put employers off and for some job applications I removed it. I once worked at a Company in the inspection department. It was discovered that one of the inspectors had a Degree and there was a major outcry because he was better qualified than the head of department. There was even talk of him being dismissed.

[Leicester_H]

I think the newsletter may have been misleading.

From at least 1960 until now, Universities have used external examiners as described above.

I'm not sure the OU even does ALL of the subjects that ALL universities offer - it would be a MASSIVE job for one organisation to do - hence the system of external examiners.

 

I thought these days, OU degrees were as highly rated as degrees from 'regular' universities - was certainly my perception at University of Leicester. Certain Universities are regarded more highly in certain subjects though.

 

H

[merlina]

The QAA is responsible for monitoring standards in HE

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en

 

The OU never has been afaik. - like all other Unis, it may offer its degrees, or part of them, at various other 'new' Unis or FE colleges in this country and abroad, or oversee the transition of new Unis

 

External examiners are responsible for helping to ensure the quality of individual programmes or courses, especially from an academic quality and comparability perspective, rather than the university overall.

[Beantree]

Apparently there were 250,000 students doing OU courses in 2010-2011 and it ranks as one of the largest in the world. It also seems to be a pretty cheap way of getting a Degree because you can work and gain money experience, rather than running up a huge debt, although I found the courses expensive and didn't like losing so much holiday doing the compulsory residential. But as I said in the other post, it is incredibly hard work and in the end I had to abandon my Honours courses half way through because my workload was too high and just settle for a basic BA, which I never really needed for employment anyway. Still, all that was a long long time ago.

 

So I stand corrected. QAA it is.

[Leicester_H]

The QAA is responsible for monitoring standards in HE

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en

Just goes to show, you learn something new everyday.

 

When we developed new degree courses, the content was scrutinised by people in the Uni but in different departments.

We set and marked exams (checked by external examiners) - I never (knowingly) had any contact with the QAA - so how do they monitor standards if they don't monitor content, delivery or assessment?

 

Similarly, research - we applied for grant money, did research, published papers - all peer reviewed - no contact with QAA.

 

I'd love to know how they monitor standards in practice (or is it more distant, like Universities Minister is responsible for Universities?)

 

H

[merlina]

The QAA sets benchmarking standards about all kinds of things (prompt feedback, what consititutes level 5 attainment etc)

It does a comprehensive review of every Uni every 5 years. They've just done ours - a properly painful process and millions of words of documents

 

On a more day to day basis, you're quite right. If there's a new course, that's approved by a validation panel which includes people from another Uni, other Faculties and industry (if relevant). It also includes a quality specialist who advises on QAA standards being met - and the whole panel has to sign off that it is

 

Research, again, the RAE every few years 'benchmarks' that to ensure that Unis are producing quality research - and hits them in the pocket if not.

 

So most academics, most of the time, aren't in touch with the QAA, but they are imposing its standards/dictats

 

When it comes to complaints, they're dealt with by he OIA (office of the Independent Adjudicator) under delegated authority from the QAA

 

This is Universities - why make anything simple when you can turn it into an administrative and bureaucratic nightmare!

[Leicester_H]

So most academics, most of the time, aren't in touch with the QAA, but they are imposing its standards/dictats

The system is so opaque that we're imposing standards that we're not even aware of!!!

- why make anything simple when you can turn it into an administrative and bureaucratic nightmare!

This is precisely why I left!!!

 

H