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The ways in which university watchdogs protect standards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland face a major overhaul in plans expected this week.
It could mean the end of a regular cycle of university inspections.
There are believed to be proposals for a more 'risk-based' approach, with higher levels of scrutiny for less established institutions. There have also been questions about the future of the current watchdog, the Quality Assurance Agency. The plans for discussion, which will be published this week, will set out major changes in how standards are assessed and monitored in universities.
The plans aim to create a way of ensuring quality at a time of increasing consumer pressure from students and doubts about standards in some new private providers.
An annual survey published this month by the Higher Education Policy Institute showed that less than half of students believed they had had good or very good value for money from their courses. The shake-up is expected to propose different levels of supervision for different parts of the higher education sector. Universities are said to be resistant to a 'one-size-fits-all" monitoring system'.
This could mean that established, mainstream universities would no longer face a cycle of inspections of the kind carried out by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). Newer entrants offering higher education courses would face a tougher level of scrutiny. For established universities, there would be a stronger emphasis on student "outcomes" - such as data on the employment record of graduates and information from the National Student Survey.
There would also be a strengthening of the 'external examiner' system, in which experts from other universities are used to check on the quality of degrees being awarded.If there were particular concerns about an institution, there would be a formal, hands-on inspection. It is expected that university governing bodies would have a bigger role in being accountable for quality.
And the plans are expected to 'embed' the idea of a way of measuring the quality of teaching in universities. The Conservatives' election manifesto promised a way of comparing university teaching standards as well as research. The intention is to move towards a regulatory system with a stronger focus on what courses mean for students and employers, rather than monitoring the internal processes of universities.
1 July 2015
Ministers are planning to revive national tests for seven-year-olds in England, according to the Times Educational Supplement.
Currently, Year 2 pupils sit tests in reading, writing, maths and science which are marked by teachers and moderated by local councils. The results of any new tests would be used to hold schools to account on pupils' progress. Teaching unions have already threatened to boycott any new national tests.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb is reported to be considering the proposals as his department gets to grips with how pupil progress is to be measured and recorded now the system of National Curriculum levels has been scrapped. This was the system of checking pupils' year-by-year progress against a set of national expectations.
Pupils are expected to reach two levels of progress between the end of infant school - or Key Stage 1 (KS1) - and the end of primary school, or Key Stage 2 (KS2). Schools are held to account on this through the league tables.
It has been reported that Nick Gibb is looking at the idea of scrapping teacher assessment in KS1 tests entirely in favour of having reported tests because there is a difficulty with using teacher assessment for progress, plus they want to reduce teachers' workload. It has been suggested that progress can't be measured accurately with teacher assessment, and that there are incentives for schools to depress pupils' scores to show progress is being made.
The KS1 national tests for seven-year-olds were scrapped more than a decade ago after complaints that seven, or six in some cases, was too early an age to put children through the stress of external testing.
Any move to bring in national tests for infant pupils would be controversial, as teaching unions have long argued that they skew learning and can set children up to fail in the early years, when youngsters develop at different speeds. The proposal is supported by Ofsted but not by the National Association of Head Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.
1 July 2015
Our July newsletter has just been published.
1 July 2015
Four in 10 of the first students to pay higher fees do not believe their courses have been good value for money, a survey for BBC Radio 5 live suggests.
Just over half say their university course has been good value and about 8 per cent are undecided.
The survey of 1 004 final-year students also shows 46 percent would do the same course again.
Universities UK said the last national student survey found 86 per cent of students were satisfied with their course. The survey, carried out by ComRes from 1-7 May, focused on undergraduates in their final year of degree courses in 2015.
These students were the first to pay higher fees of up to £9 000 per year, after the price of university tuition trebled in 2012. Many commentators predicted there would be a fall in student numbers but this did not happen.
29 June 2015
Goldman Sachs introduced new work hours for summer interns after Bank of America Merrill Lynch intern died from seizure induced by all-nighters.
Go home before midnight, and don't come back before 7am. Goldman Sachs - one of Wall Street's toughest firms - has told interns they have got to work hard, but not too hard.
27 June 2015
Our June newsletter is now available.
1 June 2015
Three free online programmes, aimed at helping sixth-formers bridge the gap between school and university, are due to launch this summer.
The courses are due to begin soon after sixth-formers have sat their AS and A-level exams in June and July, when they will be thinking about starting university or applying for a degree course in the autumn.
The university-led "massive open online courses" (MOOCs) will be available on the FutureLearn website. The content includes choosing a university and how to apply.
Sheffield university is providing two courses on applying for jobs and courses and succeeding at interviews. The first includes writing covering letters and personal statements. The second is on interviews, covering how to research organisations, what to wear and how to deal with commonly asked questions. Both courses include input from employers and admissions tutors and are open to anyone, not just young people.
The third, from the University of East Anglia, includes advice from lecturers and undergraduates on the skills new students will need. This focuses on critical thinking, data analysis and how to sustain a supported argument as well as coping with the university environment.
31 May 2015
Research teams from Bristol and Newcastle universities say that dyslexia is not linked to any problems with eyesight.
They carried out eye tests on more than 5,800 children (3% of children have severe dyslexia) and did not find any differences in the vision of those with dyslexia.
This finding raises doubts about the value of using coloured overlays or lenses to help dyslexic children with reading.
The confusion arises from the fact that minority of people who are dyslexic do find that text is significantly clearer when viewed through a coloured filter or lens - but some who are not dyslexic experience the same kind of benefit.
28 May 2015
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