Academic partnerships form a key component of the sector's quality assurance landscape but they are little understood, with a scarcity of guidance on good practice and information on current arrangements across the sector.
Working with our partners Pinsent Masons and a steering group of key sector stakeholders, our aim is to address these issues. Our steering group includes representatives from the Association of Colleges, Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, Quality Assurance Agency, and an independent sector representative. Universities UK is also involved in the project in an advisory capacity.
As part of the project we are examining the experiences of the teaching partner, awarding partner, and students. Our survey of teaching partners last year elicited feedback from those with well-established arrangements, as well as those currently seeking partners. We found a nuanced variety of fruitful and well-managed collaborations, exploring areas such as risk management in quality, perceptions of value, and the processes around seeking and ending partnerships.
Awarding partner views
We are now inviting providers with UK degree awarding powers to take part in the project by completing a new survey. Responses to the survey will complement what we have already learned from teaching providers and from student feedback to help us understand the state of partnerships across UK higher education today and inform our conclusions and recommendations for action.
If you do not currently operate partnerships in the UK but you did in the past, or if your only arrangements have been with international partners, we would also like to hear your views on a much shorter set of questions. You can see a preview of the questions in PDF form via the download link below.
The deadline for survey responses has been extended to Friday 16 February 2024.