Managing a Partnership

Partnership Management Group

Collaborations with Delivery Partners need to be managed through a Partnership Management Group,or Partnership Board, the composition and remit for which is detailed in the Delivery Partners' Principles and Procedures Handbook

Quality Assurance

Partnership programmes and related student progress must be reviewed through the standard University procedures (eg Curriculum Management, Annual Course and Programme Review, External Examiner Reports, Staff–Student Liaison Committees, Student Course Evaluation Forms, Postgraduate Structured Monitoring Framework etc.).

In all such processes, it is important that data are reported in such a way as to enable comparison of the student cohorts that are taking the courses/programmes as part of a partnership arrangement with the student cohorts that are taking the courses/programmes as part of the standard Aberdeen provision/award.

Monitoring and review

Each School is responsible for the monitoring and review of all of its partnerships and for reporting to the Quality Assurance Committee on an annual basis. 

Annual Report

Each year of the partnership, the School or Programme Management Group/Project  Board (for Delivery Partners) are required to produce a brief Annual Report to be submitted to the Quality Assurance Committee due on 31^st October annually. Annual Reports will be considered by the Quality Assurance Committee alongside all other partnerships and collaborative provision to ensure effective oversight of provision.

Partnership Review

All partnerships have a termination date (or end date) and this will be defined in the Agreement. In order to decide whether a partnership should be renewed or terminated, a Partnership Review will need to take place. The Review should take place one calendar year before the ‘end date’ (or earlier if required).

Most Reviews will include scrutiny of Annual Reports, copies of the standard quality assurance documents (eg Staff-Student Liaison Committee minutes, SCEF, Annual Course and Programme Review), and financial statements. The School will be responsible for the Review and for recommending either a renewal or termination of the partnership as part of the annual School Planning process, consulting with the Quality Assurance Committee on matters relating to academic standards and quality.

Any decision as to whether or not a partnership should be continued will be made in good time, bearing in mind the termination period (usually a minimum of 6 calendar months) defined in the Agreement and the specific annual cycle of the partnership (eg the University will need time to plan the recruitment of new students to a programme that is renewed, or the protection of students on a programme that is to be terminated).

It can take several months to agree the details of a renewal with a partner, following which a revised partnership Agreement will have to be drafted, negotiated and signed.