TQEF Resources and Support - Scottish Funding Council

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Information on the range of support and resources available to students and staff to help them engage with the Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF).

Access to Support and Resources

Q1 What support, training and resources will be available for institutional staff to implement the TQEF?

To support the sector, SFC has developed resources which include these FAQs and a TQEF Toolkit which provides access to the main diagrams and images for use in internal presentations on the TQEF and guidance on how to use the TQEF branding. We have also produced a short video which outlines the key elements of the TQEF.

Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and College Development Network (CDN), with the support of student partnerships in quality Scotland (sparqs), have and will continue to deliver a coherent programme of activity to enhance institutions’ capacity to fully participate in the TQEF. In the last year, the following resources have been released:

If there are specific questions or requests for support on the TQEF, SFC would encourage sector colleagues to contact us at quality@sfc.ac.uk.

Q2 How will I know what parts of the college and university quality framework have changed under TQEF?

SFC has produced a mapping resource identifying key changes as a result of the introduction of the TQEF:

	College Quality Arrangements	University Quality Arrangements	Tertiary Quality Arrangements
Quality framework	How Good is Our College (HGIOC)	Quality Enhancement Framework (QEF)	Scotland’s Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF)
External Peer Review	Annual Engagement Visits/ Progress Visits (Led by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIe), supported by Associate Assessors and Student Team Members). Thematic Reviews (sample of institutions based on chosen theme).	Enhancement-led Institutional Review (ELIR) Cyclical (5 years). Peer review team including a student representative, supported by Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).	Tertiary Quality Enhancement Review (TQER) Cyclical (7 years in the first cycle). Peer review team including a student representative, supported by QAA.
Annual Liaison	Ongoing engagement with Link HMIe	Annual Institution Liaison Meeting with QAA	Annual Quality Engagement – focused individual annual meetings with SFC and QAA.
Institution-led quality activity	Annual Monitoring Annual review of provision and support services allowing for ongoing enhancement of student learning experience. Awarding Body and Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRB) activity.	Annual monitoring Annual review of academic provision allowing for ongoing enhancement of the student learning experience. Institution-led review Holistic reviews of academic provision on a six-year cycle to assure academic standards and enhance the student learning experience. Professional services review Method to be determined by institutions PSRB activity	Annual monitoring Annual review of academic provision allowing for ongoing enhancement of the student learning experience. Institution-led quality review (ILQR) Holistic reviews of academic provision and support/professional services on a six-year cycle to assure academic standards and enhance the student learning experience. Awarding Body activity and PSRB reviews continue as before
Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership (SCQFP) review of credit rated programmes	Cyclical review of college credit rating activity		Incorporated into TQER (once the current SCQFP cycle is completed).
Reporting to SFC	Evaluative Report and Enhancement Plan Paused due to COVID.	Annual report on Institution-led Review (ILR) Describes the scope, nature and outcomes of ILR activities over the past year.	Annual Self-Evaluation and Action Plan (SEAP)
Outcome Agreements – link to quality	Learning and quality included in the Outcome Agreement (OA) and in the OA self-evaluation report.	Learning and quality included in the Outcome Agreement (OA) and in the OA self-evaluation report.	No additional reporting required for learning and quality, within the new Outcome Framework and Assurance Model (OFAM).
Student engagement/ partnership	Student Engagement Framework for Scotland	Student Engagement Framework for Scotland	Student Learning Experience Model & Student Partnership Ambition Statement and Features (building on Student Engagement Framework for Scotland).
Sector-level Enhancement Activity	College Development Network Programme of support and enhancement, including input from Education Scotland.	Enhancement Themes Programme of activity across the higher education sector. Staff and students collaborate on one or more topics to improve strategy, policy and practice. Focus On Aim to help Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and students’ associations with work in their key priority areas. The topics come from recommendations and commendations from ELIR.	Scotland’s Tertiary Enhancement Programme (STEP) Sector owned national enhancement programme managed by the QAA and supported by College Development Network (CDN).

Check the glossary of terms, abbreviations and acronyms in Annex E of the Guidance.