Like all higher education providers in the UK, the QAA Quality Code states we must meet certain Core Practices for Admissions, Recruitment and Widening Access that the QAA have set out within their Expectations for this area. See How we do things for our approach in meeting these.
Core Practices Expectations:
For Standards:
- Ensure that students who are awarded qualifications have the opportunity to achieve standards beyond the threshold level that are reasonably comparable with those achieved in other UK education providers.
- In practice, this means that managing expectations of students, from researching prospective courses through to admissions and enrolment. Providers need to ensure that only students for whom there is a reasonable expectation that they are capable of completion are admitted.
For Quality:
- Have a reliable, fair and inclusive admissions system.
- In practice, this means that fairness and reliability are embedded principles within admissions and recruitment, and inclusivity pervades throughout the process from outreach activity to processes and practices to enrolment.
- Actively engage students, individually and collectively, in the quality of our educational experience.
- In practice, this means that there needs to be active engagement with students who have recently gone through the admissions process and those who declined, with a view to continuously improve the process for future diverse cohorts.
- Have fair and transparent procedures for handling complaints and appeals which are accessible to all students.
- In practice, this means that providers adhere to the practice of having clearly articulated and transparent processes for handling complaints of prospective students that are accessible to all stakeholders. These should be monitored and reviewed to mitigate against the same issues arising in the future.