UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX PARTNER INSTITUTIONS
Institutional Annual Review
Reflecting on the academic year 2014-15
An Institutional Annual Review of Partner Institutions report must be approved by the relevant senior manager with responsibility for
higher education before being submitted to the Dean of Academic Partnerships via the Academic Standards and Partnerships Office
acstand@essex.ac.uk
Purpose:




Provide an overview and summary of key themes emerging from Annual Reviews of Courses, and
to inform quality assurance and enhancement at an institutional level
Develop action plans that ensure the enhancement of academic standards and quality at an
institution level
Ensure excellence in the quality of education
Identify and share good practice
Partner institution:
Courses to which this report applies
(Please add or delete rows as necessary)
Number of students across all years that were
registered on the course during the year of
this review
Report Author
Date
Submitted by
Name
Signature
(I confirm that the information provided in this report is a true and accurate record.)
SUBMISSION DEADLINES:

By noon on Monday 1 February 2016
List of appendices to this report for the information of the Dean:
Section one
Action update since last year’s Institutional Annual Review
Please add rows as necessary.
Please state the action taken as an outcome of last year’s Institutional Annual Review
Please ensure that updates are provided for all objectives identified in last year’s report as well as objectives that are still outstanding from previous years’ reports.
Please indicate where objectives are being carried forward, and ensure these are included in Section 5.
To facilitate cross-referencing and future monitoring please allocate each objective and action a unique identifier in line with the format explained in the guidance notes.
ID
Objective
Action
Responsibility
Timescale
Progress to date
Action
carried
forward
a.
Y/N
a.
Y/N
a.
Y/N
a.
Y/N
a.
Y/N
Response to Dean’s comment on the previous year’s Institutional Annual Review
Section two
Overview of strengths and enhancements
Where you have indicated that a strength or enhancement requires further work, an objective and action
must be generated in Section five. When completing the table below, please ensure that the unique ID
reference is provided in brackets for the corresponding objective and action given in Section five.
Please comment on the following areas, drawing on key themes and issues which emerged from
the annual review of courses, across centres/schools
 Use as evidence the Partnership Performance Indicators, NSS, ISS, Student Staff Liaison
Committees (or equivalent), module evaluations, DLHE, progression, retention and achievement
data, External Examiner reports and any other centre/school monitoring systems in place.
 Reference should be made to steps taken in response to internal and external influences, including
Curriculum Review.
 Please also reflect on methods of seeking student feedback and levels of student engagement, for
example through SSLCs.
 Please ensure you consider issues relating to equality and diversity when answering these questions.
1. What has been successful this year, including areas of good practice that could be shared?
2. What issues/risks have arisen this year, and what will require monitoring in the forthcoming year?
3. Where 2013/14 DLHE data has been received this year, please comment on how the results
compare with the previous year and other institutions where possible. What actions were
implemented, or delayed, in 2013/14 that could have impacted on these results?
4. Please reflect on the employability initiatives undertaken in 2014/15, and how these initiatives are
anticipated to improve results in the future? Are there any further actions required for this
academic year in light of this analysis?
Section Three
Where comments link to the action plan, please provide the unique identifier.
Please confirm the following for
the 2014/15 academic year
Drawing on key themes and issues which
emerged from 2014/15 ARCs, please highlight
processes which show good practice within
the institution and processes you plan to
improve.
Monitoring and Review process
Students were consulted in the
process for Annual Review of
Courses (ARC)
Management committees were
convened for joint course annual
review purposes
Action plans from the ARC were
regularly reviewed
ARCs were sent to the External
Examiner(s)
Student involvement with quality assurance and enhancement
The institution had clear systems for
identifying which modules are due
for module evaluation
The institution had effective
mechanisms for ensuring that
actions identified through the module
evaluation process are implemented
The outcomes of module evaluation,
including good practice, were
communicated to students
The institution disseminated action
and issues arising through ISS and
NSS to staff and students
An up-to-date commentary was
provided on the web for current and
prospective students
Actions identified in student and staff
liaison committees (or equivalent
meetings) were followed up and
outcomes reported to subsequent
meetings
Minutes of student and staff liaison
committees (or equivalent meetings)
were published to students.
External Examiner reports were
routinely reported and discussed at
the appropriate student and staff
liaison committees (or equivalent
meetings).
External Examiners
External Examiners were briefed and
provided with the module and course
information they needed to carry out
their role
Issues raised by external examiners
were discussed and acted upon.
Action taken was reported to
External Examiners and each
External Examiner was sent a letter
or email by the department in
response to their report.
A copy of each school/centre’s
response to the External Examiner
was sent to ASPO.
Reference to
Institutional
Action Plan
Please confirm the following for
the 2014/15 academic year
Assessment
Assessment strategies align with the
institution’s Marking and Assessment
policies.
A system is in place for monitoring
feedback to students on coursework
A system is in place to monitor the
timeliness of feedback
Communication
Updates to University Policies and
Procedures, and key issues
discussed and clarified by the
University were disseminated and
implemented
Drawing on key themes and issues which
emerged from 2014/15 ARCs, please highlight
processes which show good practice within
the institution and processes you plan to
improve.
Reference to
Institutional
Action Plan
Section Four
Where comments link to the action plan, please provide the unique identifier in brackets.
The institutional response to, or ongoing action in respect of, the last Institutional Review and/or
Institutional Validation.
For the first report after the Institutional validation or review, this section must include a response to each
condition and recommendation. In subsequent years, updates should be provided via sections two and
five.
In considering centre/school responses to, or ongoing action in respect of, course level Periodic
Review and/or Validation activity, please comment on the following areas:
 The key themes emerging from Periodic Reviews and/or Validations (Please attach in the appendix
the list of recommendations, conditions and commendations).
 The institution’s response to ongoing themes emerging from Validation and Periodic Review
commendations, recommendations and conditions.
 How the institution encourages effective engagement with Periodic Reviews and/or validations.
 How the institution encourages timely, appropriate responses to Periodic Reviews and/or Validations
which lead to approval within initial deadlines set by relevant panels.
Partnership Performance Indicators
 Please comment on the institution’s Partnership Performance Indicators and benchmarking data, and
actions taken in response
Alignment with University Education and Research Strategies and associated Curriculum Review
 Comment on how the institution has responded to strategic developments as outlined in the
Education and Research Strategies and the associated Curriculum Review
Employer engagement and work-based learning
 Please evaluate how effectively the institution has engaged with employers and/or industry
representatives during the year under review.
 Where appropriate, please summarise institutional level arrangements for work-based learning,
highlighting any common issues and/or aspects of good practice in this area.
Student support
 Please evaluate the effectiveness of student support mechanisms within the institution (both in terms
of academic and pastoral support), drawing on feedback from students as appropriate.
Facilities and resources
 Please provide an evaluative summary of the adequacy of facilities and resources to support the
delivery of the HE courses, including teaching accommodation, library and IT resources.
 Please provide evidence of levels of student satisfaction with available learning resources.
 Please provide details of annual library expenditure on HE level learning resources in relation to full
time equivalent student numbers.
Staffing
 Please provide details of any managerial, academic and non-academic changes to staffing over the
previous academic year that have impacted on HE level provision.
 Outline any key issues in relation to staffing that have arisen during the year under review (for
example staffing restructure or significant periods of staff absence) and, where appropriate, action
taken to maintain the quality of the student experience.
 Comment on the same areas and actions taken or planned for the next academic year.
 Please attach the institutional organisational structure.
Staff development and scholarly activity
 Please provide a summary of HE staff engagement in research, scholarship and professional activity
during the year under review.
 Please provide a summary of HE staff development activity within the institution during the year
under review. Include details of any teaching observation schemes in operation, and key strengths
and areas for development identified.
 Please explain how staff development and staff engagement in research, scholarship and
professional activity has impacted on curriculum design and teaching quality.
Consideration of updates to the QAA UK Quality Code
 Please provide details of how the institution has considered any updates to the UK Quality Code for
Higher Education over the previous academic year (including the Framework for Higher Education
Qualifications, the QAA Code of Practice and relevant subject benchmark statements) and attach any
updated documentation. For guidance on the quality code, please see
http://www.qaa.ac.uk/ASSURINGSTANDARDSANDQUALITY/QUALITY-CODE/Pages/default.aspx
Section five
Action plan
In response to the review please outline the actions for the 2015/16 academic year
When agreeing on objectives and actions, please keep in mind that there needs to be an effective means of measuring the impact of actions and whether the
objective has been achieved.
Please allocate unique IDs to objectives and actions as explained in the guidance on completing reports. For items carried over from a previous year, please keep
the ID consistent across all reports.
ID
Objectives carried forward Action
Means of measuring
Responsibility
Timescale
Progress
from previous years
impact and achievement
of objective
ID
New Objectives
Action
Means of measuring
impact and achievement
of objective
Responsibility
Timescale
Progress