Self assessing

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Self assessing the quality of the
student experience in a British
University Gwen M. van der Velden Director of
Learning and Teaching Enhancement
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The University of Bath
Ranks in the top ten of British
Universities Largely Science and Engineering
with some Social Sciences and Humanities
disciplines Substantial links with industrial
partners for research, placements and graduate
destinations 12,000 students, including 2,500
international students 2,300 postgraduate
students
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The Bath Quality Management Principles

• Decisions about our learning and teaching
• are informed by sound pedagogical principles
• Decisions about our learning and teaching
• take into account the informed student voice
• Decision about our learning and teaching
• are compared to practices, views
• and research of peers

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Who is external?
Professional Bodies Quality Assurance
Agency Industrial, professional and other
partners Peer institutions
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Who is self?
Education is a partnership between teachers and
learners. Higher education is a partnership
between teachers, learners and the research they
study. So who else can define quality of
education, but students, staff and their peers?
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Self assessment at all levels
Unit or module evaluation Programme self
assessments Staff self and peer
assessment Central services evaluations Institutio
nal self assessment and evaluation
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Unit or module evaluation
Online unit evaluations Staff-Student Liaison
Committees Evaluation of academic results
(grades) Annual unit evaluation Review of the
unit by students, (external) examiners, peers and
unit teacher(s)
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Programme self assessments
Continuous feedback and improvement Annual
monitoring Periodic review every five
years Review and evaluation by departmental
colleagues, and those in cognate disciplines
(peers!), industrial partners and students
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Staff evaluation
Appraisal Peer review Student feedback Review by
senior colleagues, peers, and students. Direct
linkage to staff development planning.
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Institutional evaluations
National Student Survey International Student
Barometer Staff Survey Internal thematic reviews
(Themes such as assessment, personal tutoring,
placement learning, feedback arrangements etc)
Annual review against key performance
indicators Review by students, ourselves and
against standards of quality of our peers
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Self assessment or external review?
In common Broadly the same data External review
uses internal quality management systems Both
systems base themselves on peer
review Separate External assessments lead to
league tables Potential impact on funding
(student numbers) Only self assessment includes
students directly
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Self assessment or external review?
External reviews are snap shots. Self
assessment is continuous.Continuous improvement
needs both
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Gwen van der Velden G.M.Vandervelden_at_bath.ac.uk
Learning and Teaching Enhancement
Office University of Bath Great Britain