Course quality requirements

This is about what happens on your course - mainly the teaching and learning activities. All courses have to be:

• Up-to-date: That means the material you are taught should be representative of the current thinking and practices in your subject, profession or industry;
• Provides educational challenge: That means that at each stage or level most students should neither find the course too hard nor too easy;
• Coherent: You will learn the important foundations in your subject before tackling more complex areas, you have the chance to choose specialist options, and any practical aspects will be related properly to the theory;
• Effectively delivered: There will be a range of engaging learning activities, good opportunities to engage directly with teaching staff, regular and effective supervision where the course involves research, and where there are professional or practice-based elements that should be integrated with academic elements’
• Relevant skills: This means you get the chance to both develop and demonstrate intellectual skills like evaluating evidence, mobilising an argument, and solving problems - and if your course is designed to lead to a particular profession, you develop and demonstrate the skills necessary for success in that profession.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to ensure that your course is meeting the quality requirements for academic experience:

• How good are staff at explaining course content/things? How often do teaching staff make the subject engaging and intellectually stimulating?
• How often does my course challenge me to achieve my best work? Do I have the chance to apply theories and concepts that I have learned? Is there a chance to explore ideas or concepts in depth? Does my course allow me to bring together information and ideas from different topics? When working with other students, how helpful is this for my learning? 
• To what extent does my course introduce subjects and skills in a way that builds on what I’ve already learnt? Is the content on my course up-to-date? Is the balance between directed and independent study right? How well does my course develop the knowledge and skills that I think I’ll need for my future?

If you think that generally we are meeting these requirements but there is room to get better, we are keen to hear your feedback either directly or through a student representative. But if you think we are consistently not meeting these requirements, we need to know straight away - so we can put that right.

This is about the things we put in place to support you to achieve your best - and the interactions we have with you and other students to learn from your experiences. All courses should involve:

• Good staff: This means enough staff for the size of the cohort of students, who have a mixture of experience and expertise in the subject, sufficient trained and qualified teaching staff, and for research students, staff who are undertaking research at the forefront of relevant discipline(s)
• Learning resources: This means, without having to pay more, that you have things like appropriate hardware and software so you can effectively access all aspects of course content, good technical infrastructure, reliable access to the internet, and access to a (quiet) space that is appropriate for studying. It also includes any help you might need with the technology or equipment to make the best use of the resources that are there
• Academic support: This includes support from staff to help you with course content or on placements so you can identify and address your gaps in knowledge or skills, and help with making decisions about future study choices
• Academic integrity: This means support to avoid academic misconduct, including understanding the consequences if you’re caught cheating, and support for essay planning and accurate referencing
• Careers support: This includes information, advice and guidance you might need to identify your capabilities and the way in which these may be suited to particular careers, and to articulate these in a way likely to result in successful job applications
• Feedback and engagement: This means that students on your course are given a range of opportunities, either individually or through representatives, to provide feedback on the course and the way it is delivered. It also means student representatives raising issues and evaluating the student experience, and you getting to know what is being done with that feedback and input

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to ensure that your course is meeting the quality requirements for resources, support and student engagement:

• How easy is it to contact staff when I need to? How well do staff support my learning? Do I get good advice about study choices? How well organised is my course? How clearly are changes to the course communicated?
• How often am I able to access the learning resources (either digital or physical) that I need? How well do the resources support my learning? How well do library resources (eg books, online services and learning spaces) support my learning?
• To what extent do I get opportunities to give feedback either directly or to reps? Are students' opinions valued by staff? How clear is it that feedback is acted on? Is the students' union effective when representing students?

Again, if you think that generally we are meeting these requirements but there is room to get better, we are keen to hear your feedback either directly or through a student representative. But if you think we are consistently not meeting these requirements, we need to know straight away so we can put that right.

This is about the things that students want to get out of their course, including what happens after graduation. There are lots of types of “good outcomes” that students get from taking part in higher education, but as a minimum, a certain percentage of all types of students in all subject areas at the University have to:

• continue in their studies (that means get to the second year of their course if there is one)
• complete their studies (that means finish the course and get a result at the end); and
• progress into managerial or professional employment, or further study

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to ensure that your course is meeting the quality requirements for student outcomes:

• If my course has a second year, are there reasons why some students are struggling?
• What stops students from being able to complete the course and are there things the University could put in place to help?
• Do I feel prepared for life after Westminster? Is the support for further study or careers accessible, does it come at the right time, and is it targeted appropriately?

If a subject area or type of student falls below the minimum percentage required by the Office for Students, the University may be required to take action to address that gap. If you think there are reasons why students on your course might not be getting to year two, completing the course or getting a graduate job, we need to know so we can take action.

This is about the way in which we make sure that your assessment is fair, valid and reliable; what we do to stop students from cheating; and the way in which our rules and regulations support you to be able to demonstrate your best even if something goes wrong. This means:

• Effective assessment: Assessing you in a challenging and appropriately comprehensive way, by reference to the subject matter of the course (including stretch and rigour that is consistent with the level of your course) and testing skills and knowledge that are relevant
• Avoiding misconduct: Designing assessments in a way that minimises cheating and helps us spot it where it does happen
• Valid and reliable: This means testing the things that have been covered on the course and making sure that students who show the same level of achievement through different assessments get consistent marks; and
• Credible: Making sure that the number and percentage of good results that we award is reflective of student performance
• English: We also have to make sure that we assess your technical proficiency in the English language in a way that reflects the level and content of the course

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to ensure that your course is meeting the quality requirements for assessment and awards:

• How often do assessments allow me to demonstrate what I have learnt? How clear are the marking criteria used to assess my work? How fair is the marking and assessment on my course and in comparison to other courses at the University?
• Is my feedback timely and does it help me to improve my learning? If students hit an unexpected problem while at university, are the rules that allow students to have longer to submit or make more attempts fair?

There are lots of other things that we have to do. For example, we have to operate the University’s finances in a sound way, we have to take steps to secure equality of opportunity and we must comply with consumer protection law - that means giving applicants honest and accurate information about courses and keeping the promises that we make. We also have to take steps to ensure students and staff have freedom of speech within the law.

You can find out more about the range of requirements we have to meet on the OfS website.