Quality and standards governance

You can read more at Governance at the OU

The University’s framework for the governance of quality and standards integrates activity at University, faculty and unit level.  It can be summarised as:

Institutional level

• The University’s Council has ultimate responsibility for all the affairs of the University and is accountable to the funding/regulatory bodies across the four nations for quality and standards (see Council Constitution (pdf 358kb))
• Senate is the academic authority in the University responsible for overseeing the University’s academic management, including the curriculum and all aspects of quality and standards associated with the University
• The Academic Quality and Governance Committee is responsible to the Senate for assuring the effectiveness of the University’s arrangements for managing academic quality and standards, including oversight of the University’s engagement with external quality assessment
• The Education Committee is responsible to Senate for strategy and policy relating to curriculum, assessment and qualifications, learning and teaching, and the student experience and has three sub committees:
  • Qualifications and Assessment Committee (responsible for the approval, amendment and withdrawal of directly taught qualifications)
  • Student Experience Committee
  • Curriculum Partnerships Committee (responsible for the approval of collaborative partnerships, excluding research partnerships, and the approval of validated awards)
• The Research Degrees Committee is accountable to the Research Committee for the research degrees and higher doctorates strategy policy and regulations including the approval, monitoring and review of research partnerships.

Faculty/unit level

• Teaching Committees within each faculty are responsible to the Education Committee for strategy, policy and standards relating to qualifications, modules, learning and teaching, assessment, and the quality of the student experience within each faculty.
• Boards of Studies oversee the development and maintenance of the curriculum and monitor the performance of modules and qualifications within their area of responsibility. Although not part of the formal governance structure, Boards of Studies are responsible for the quality assurance and enhancement of all curriculum within their area of responsibility, reporting on quality assurance and quality enhancement annually to their Teaching Committees.

Assessment Boards

(see Assessment handbook (pdf 511kb))

The University has a three-tier system of assessment boards for the verification and ratification of students’ results and decisions regarding their progression and awards.  These boards and panels are managed centrally through Academic Services and include:

• The Module Results Panel (MRP) is responsible for the setting and marking of assessments for each cohort of a specific module, and for proposing a result for each student on a module to the Cluster Examination and Assessment Board.
• The Cluster Examination and Assessment Board operates at the programme or qualification level and is responsible for reviewing Module Review Panel results for all modules within a subject cluster
• The Module Results Approval and Qualifications Classification Panel operates at an institutional level and is responsible for approving recommendations for module results and the award and classification of qualifications.