Bloomsbury Institute offers higher education degrees accredited by the University of Northampton. As such, the courses cannot be unilaterally approved or amended by Bloomsbury Institute.
Prior to being approved to deliver a new course or to amend an existing course, we have to be approved by our awarding body, which in all cases requires us to comply with the awarding body’s validation policies and procedures. Our University of Northampton courses are subject to annual monitoring and evaluation, periodic review and modification procedures, which are governed by the University of Northampton.
To supplement the awarding bodies’ policies and procedures, we have developed our own internal procedures for approval of courses and modification of the curriculum. These procedures are contained in two documents:
Like all higher education providers in the UK, the QAA Quality Code states we must meet certain Expectations for Course Development and Design. These are:
QAA Quality Code Expectations
For Standards:
- The academic standards of courses meet the requirements of the relevant national qualifications framework.
- The UK frameworks for higher education qualifications provide definitive points of reference for UK higher education providers when designing courses. They also provide a context in which qualifications can be reviewed and developed.
- The value of qualifications awarded to students at the point of qualification and over time is in line with sector-recognised standards.
- Qualifications are determined by level and academic credit. Level descriptors and academic credit values allow providers to accurately describe and market their qualifications in a consistent manner. Not only are they tools for securing threshold academic standards nationally, they allow valid comparisons to be made with qualifications in other nations which enables student mobility.
For Quality:
- Courses are well-designed, provide a high-quality academic experience for all students and enable a student’s achievement to be reliably assessed.
- Feedback from key stakeholders/sources and multidisciplinary research allow developers to craft relevant and innovative courses of study. Sources of feedback for course design may include internal and external specialists, prospective, current and past students, employers and PSRBs. The incorporation of a systematic, relevant and stimulating assessment strategy, which enables course and module learning outcomes to be met, is also a key consideration for course design and development.
What’s next?
Within the Expectations above, the QAA Quality Code also sets out Core Practices that we need to meet. Go to How we do things to see our approaches in meeting these Core Practices.