TQEF Outputs

It is recognised that all provision within an institution will be subject to the same/similar quality assurance and enhancement processes. When describing good practice or areas for development or enhancement the SEAP should focus on the areas of priority identified by the institution. The SEAP is designed to be used for a range of purposes including as part of the monitoring and assurance associated with the SFC Outcomes Framework (OF). To that end, the focus of the Annual Quality Engagement (AQE) meetings with SFC will be on SFC-funded activity (credit-bearing and non-credit bearing) for universities and colleges, however we recognise that there will be differences between institutions in terms of the extent to which non-credit bearing activity will feature in the SEAP.

The SEAP will provide an annual reflection of an institution’s progress on its strategic assurance and enhancement activity. It will feed directly into and sit alongside the Strategic Impact Assessment (SIA) that institutions will be asked to do by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) as part of their external review preparation.

It is important to note that, during the year of review, institutions will not be asked to complete a SEAP. In that year, the Tertiary Quality Enhancement Review (TQER) will be used by SFC to gain assurance on the quality of provision for institutions undergoing review.

During the first cycle of the TQEF there will be some variation on how many SEAPs an institution will have submitted.

However, the QAA is mindful of this and institutions will be given advance warning of where their review will fall in the review schedule, so that they have time to prepare.

If you have further questions about the use of SEAPs in the TQER please contact QAA at: ARCadmin@qaa.ac.uk.

SFC does not intend to publish the SEAPs or any individual feedback. SFC will continue to publish sector overview reports, which contain the high-level themes collated from key sources such as the SEAPs. These will be in line with previous SFC practice and will not individually name institutions.

The SEAP guidance covers three separate parts. The guidelines in the first section focuses on prompts for institutional self-evaluation. Enabling each institution to reflect and present its in-year progress, summarise the areas of focus at an institutional level and contextualise the actions that the institution intends to take to address weaknesses or achieve further enhancements. Institutions can develop the self-evaluation report in a way that suits their individual context and utilise their in-house style.

The second part of the SEAP is the Action Plan, and we have provided a template for institutions to use if they choose. The template aligns with the expected template for submission of actions in response to TQER.

The last part is the Statement of Assurance, which should be signed by your Accountable Officer and submitted with your SEAP.

We have provided guidance that your self-evaluation should be in the region of 5,000 words, excluding the Action Plan. Although there is flexibility in the length of submission, we would encourage institutions to keep the SEAP concise as it is a high-level summary and should not include descriptions of process.

You can access the SEAP guidance, Action Plan and Statement of Assurance, in the SFC Guidance on Quality for Colleges and Universities.

The SEAP should be submitted to the SFC on 30 November (or the first working day thereafter if 30 November falls on a weekend). The date was chosen after a lengthy discussion with the sector and 30 November was agreed to be the best fit for the cycle.

The SEAP should be sent to SFC at: quality@sfc.ac.uk.

The SEAP presents an opportunity for colleges and universities to reflect on their own data and consider the trends that they are identifying to highlight their strengths and areas for development. Though SFC receives colleges’ data and can access universities’ data through the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and National Student Survey (NSS), we expect institutions to use the SEAPs as a method to provide an analysis of what they are seeing.

Due to the different release time frames of key data sets, we would encourage institutions to reflect on their own data for the year that is under review as the published data will not be available in time for submission by the 30 November, however the trend data for previous years should match the published data.

The SEAP guidance includes reference to key outcomes that should be considered under each of the headline principles. While we have retained the flexibility for institutions to include an analysis of the data that is most relevant to their institutional context, we have advised that institutions should be prepared to discuss the key outcomes included in the SEAP guidance as part of their Annual Quality Engagement (AQE) meeting, particularly if they have strengths or challenges in relation to any of the key outcomes.

In addition to sharing the SEAP with the QAA, it will be reviewed by SFC’s Student Interests, Access and Quality team and by the individual institutional Outcome Managers. This will include consideration of the narrative against the available data sets for the institution.

These SFC groups will meet and discuss the outcomes of their individual evaluation and to consider feedback from QAA. These meetings will support the identification of key areas for discussion with institutions at their next meeting with Outcome Managers. We would encourage institutions to ensure that relevant institutional quality colleagues and student representatives attend the meeting for that discussion.

The SEAP and feedback from the institutional meeting will be used as part of the assurance process feeding into the Outcomes Framework and Assurance Model (OFAM). Reports and findings will also be shared with College Development Network (CDN) and Student Partnership in Quality Scotland (sparqs) to help identify best practice and areas of development.

There is no requirement for case studies to be submitted as part of or in addition to the SEAP. However, institutions can include examples of good practice or specific projects that illustrate their progress/ strengths against the principles of the TQEF where this is relevant.

Institutions may wish to undertake case studies in relation to and in support of evidence for their TQER.