5.C. Title: Annual Assurance Statement Board Member: Tim Greenacre, Registrar and Secretary Author: Dr Andrew Revitt, Educational Developer (on behalf of the Quality Assurance and Enhancement Team) Date: 19 November 2018 Version: 1.0 Circulation: Directors – 26 November 2018 Status: Published Issue As part of OfS’ operating model for quality assessment, governing bodies are required to provide annual assurances about the quality of higher education provision within their institution. In order to provide assurance the Board is presented with the action plan for the coming academic year (appendix 1) and the full Annual Academic Governance Report 2017-18. The report has been approved by the Quality Committee and will be reported to Senate on 29 November 2018. Recommendation The Board is invited to provide the OfS with full assurance on the continuous improvement of the student academic experience and academic output standards in relation to the 2017-18 academic year. This is incorporated in part 2 of Appendix 1 of paper 5.D. Annual Academic Governance Report 2017-18 16th November 2018 Completed by the University’s Quality Assurance and Enhancement Team University of Suffolk: Annual Academic Governance Report 2018 Contents Preface ................................................................................................................................................ 2 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Assuring academic and professional standards ........................................................................... 4 Quality of the Student Experience ................................................................................................... 8 Partnerships ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Appendix 1: Action Plan 2018-19 .................................................................................................. 19 Preface The Office for Students requires the University to submit annual accountability returns. Included in these is the Governor sign-off regarding academic governance. As the University holds Taught Degree Awarding Powers, this sign off requires a Governor sign off against the following statements: I. The governing body has received and discussed a report and accompanying action plan relating to the continuous improvement of the student academic experience and student outcomes. This included evidence from the provider’s own periodic review processes, which fully involve students and include embedded external peer or professional review. II. The methodologies used as a basis to improve the student academic experience and student outcomes are, to the best of our knowledge, robust and appropriate. III. The standards of awards for which we are responsible have been appropriately set and maintained. This report has been produced to enable the University of Suffolk Board to have confidence in completing this sign-off process. It is accompanied by an action plan for the coming academic year (see appendix) as required in statement I. above. 2 University of Suffolk: Annual Academic Governance Report 2018 Introduction This report reviews the University’s monitoring and enhancement activities with regard to quality and academic standards during the 2017-18 academic year, and provides an overview of its plans for further development and enhancement in the following year. It has been compiled using outputs from University quality reporting mechanisms and committee proceedings and papers. We start this report with an overview of the context in which this report is written, highlighting recent institutional structural and managerial developments. This is followed by a section exploring the mechanisms in place to ensure the standards of the University’s awards have been appropriately set and maintained. The most substantive part of this report then sets out an evaluation of the student experience at the University, drawing on key indicators of quality and student satisfaction and outlining institutional enhancement activities that have been implemented during the year and that are planned for the coming year. Finally, we explore how academic governance has been maintained where the University works in partnership with others. Institutional Context The new Office for Students (OfS) was established in shadow form on 1 January 2018 and formally opened on 1 April 2018. At the end of February 2018, the OfS published the new regulatory framework for higher education in England. The University was invited to apply to be on the OfS register of providers and an application was submitted. Within the submission, the University was required to provide an Access and Participation Plan, a self-assessment regarding compliance with consumer protection law, a student protection plan, and a self-assessment regarding management and governance. The successful submission resulted in the University being registered in the ‘Approved (fee cap)’ category, making it eligible for public grant funding, to have access to the student support system and to maintain a Tier 4 sponsorship licence. Although no specific conditions of registration were imposed, an area for enhanced monitoring was identified in relation to the Access and Participation Plan. This relates to ‘reducing the gaps in attainment and progression into highly skilled employment for students from under-represented groups and some ethnic minority groups, and for students with disabilities’ which should be addressed in the 2020-21 plan following receipt of further guidance form the Director of Fair Access and Participation. In 2017 the University entered the Teaching Excellence Framework and achieved Bronze status. The award of Bronze status was largely a result of the University’s poor performance for the TEF metrics which explore student satisfaction (based on the NSS), student continuation (proportion of entrants to HE that remain in HE one year later), and students’ destinations (the proportion of graduates in ‘highly skilled’ employment or study). As an institution, we would aspire to raise our status to Silver. However, to do so, we would need to significantly improve our performance in almost all the metrics (the only exception being employment or further study). Analysis of subject level metrics highlights that there are key subject areas (such as nursing) where improved performance would have a significant overall impact at provider level. Some subjects (such as radiography) have the potential to perform strongly when subject level TEF is introduced in 2019-20. Early in the year, a new Academic Strategy was approved and implemented. This resulted in changes to the executive and management structure, including the introduction of a single tier School structure to replace the previous two-tier Department and Faculty model. Key changes made through the introduction of the School structure included a redistribution of curriculum areas between the Department of Children, Young People and Education and the Department of Psychology, Sociology and Social Work to form the School of Psychology and Education and the School of Law and Social Sciences. In addition, the Department of Science and Technology was renamed the School of Science, Technology and Engineering, and later in the year the School of Arts and Humanities became the School of Art, Design and Humanities. As noted within the section exploring course approvals, the 3 University of Suffolk: Annual Academic Governance Report 2018 strategy included significant plans for curriculum development and expansion, mainly at undergraduate level. To support the implementation of the Academic Strategy, two new senior leadership roles were created: a Director of Research and a Director of Learning and Teaching. Both posts were filled by early 2018 and, as a result of their work, new ‘Research’ and ‘Learning, Teaching and Assessment’ strategies have been developed for the University. The Director of Research was given managerial responsibility for the University’s Graduate School, which manages the University’s postgraduate research provision delivered in partnership with the University of East Anglia. Gaining Research Degree Awarding Powers remains a priority for the University. In support of the Director of Teaching and Learning, the University is establishing a Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT). Following development of the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy, the University has initiated a number of short-term task and finish groups to facilitate its implementation. In particular, groups have been formed to explore the following areas of University work, as discussed in the pertinent sections of the following sections of this report: Pedagogy/philosophy of learning, teaching and assessment Learner Analytics Staff Development Student Mentorship Suffolk Graduate Attributes Student Representation Assessment and Feedback Practices Induction Timetabling and the Academic year Personal and Pastoral Student Support Academic and Professional Support roles relating to Academic Administration The planned work of a number of these groups forms a significant portion of the actions set out in the Institutional Action Plan for the coming year. Assuring academic and professional standards In completing this section, we seek to provide assurance that the standards of awards for