Specification for a university department quality management system

Universities in the UK are autonomous self-regulating organisations responsible for the quality of the education they provide and the academic standards of their awards. In practice, responsibility for quality and standards is largely devolved to the subject communities which provide the education. The self-regulation of quality and standards in contemporary HE can be viewed, in an holistic sense, as a quality management process. Given that departments are usually the fundamental management and cultural unit in a university, with responsibility for the quality and standards of both undergraduate and postgraduate education, it stands to reason that systems and controls to support self-regulation, should also be located, owned and operationalised at this level. While there is plenty of guidance on quality management strategies at university level there is an absence of such guidance at the level of the department. The aim of the Engineering Professors Council pilot project is to develop such a guidance framework. The collaborative project involves all the Professional Institutions of Engineering, the Higher Education Quality Council, the Higher Education Funding Council England and six university engineering departments. The development of this framework is outlined.