The Quality Assurance Agency Scotland (QAAS) review process, Enhancement-Led Institutional Review (ELIR), completed its fourth and final cycle in 2021/22. ELIR has been replaced by a new external institutional review methodology which will be a two-phase approach as follows:
- Phase 1: Quality Enhancement and Standards Review (QESR)/Institutional Liaison Meeting (ILM) (2022/23-2023/24)
- Phase 2: Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF) (2024/25 onwards)
The new external quality review method is being developed in the context of a major Scottish Funding Council Review: Coherent Provision and Sustainability: A Review of Tertiary Education and Research. A key outcome of the review to date has recommended the development of a new Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF), which covers both Further and Higher Education. The new TQEF is being developed in close consultation with the sector and is due for implementation in 2024/25.
Given the review remains ongoing, the QAAS have implemented a phased approach to quality enhancement arrangements, with Phase 1 commencing in 2022/23-2023/24, and Phase 2 commencing in 2024/25, coinciding with the publication and launch of the TQEF.
Further information can be obtained from the QESR webpages and ELIR 2018 webpages .
Quality Code
The Quality Code sets out the expectations all providers of UK higher education are required to meet. External Quality Review considers the extent to which institutions make systematic use of the Code as an external reference point in their updating of policy and procedure and as reference points in its evaluation and management of institutional policy and practice.
A mapping of the institution's policies and processes to the Quality Code is available within the Academic Quality Handbook (AQH).