This is the eleventh post in the ‘Spotlight on ELIR’ series, charting the Enhancement-led Institutional Review (ELIR) which took place in February and March 2021. In this post, Professor Tina Harrison reports on the outcomes of the ELIR.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED?
As part of the ELIR, the team met with 42 students and 54 members of staff across 10 meetings and considered 158 separate supporting documents alongside the Reflective Analysis.
We have received an early draft outcome report and are delighted to have been judged to have “effective arrangements for managing academic standards and the student learning experience.” This is a positive judgement and the best possible outcome for an ELIR.
The Review Team commended us for:
- our commitment to working in close partnership with our students
- the work of the Institute for Academic Development (IAD) in supporting staff development and sharing good practice
- the development and expansion of Peer Support/Peer-Assisted Learning Schemes
- our support for student involvement in Internal Periodic Reviews.
The Review Team identified a number of areas for further development, the majority of which we were already working towards, so there are no surprises. There are two areas in particular where we have been asked to make significant progress over the course of the next academic year: personal tutoring/student support and assessment and feedback.
THANK YOU
The successful ELIR outcome reflects the commitment of a wide range of colleagues and the Students’ Association to ensuring a high quality student experience. It also reflects the contribution of many colleagues and students to the review in a wide variety of ways, so thank you to everyone who has contributed. All of this makes the successful outcome a true collective effort. I’d particularly like to thank Nichola Kett and her team in Academic Services for managing the process so professionally.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
The final report will be published in the middle of July and circulated widely. We are required to take action on the areas for further development and to report on this to the Quality Assurance Agency Scotland (who run the ELIR process) one year after the publication of the report. We’ll be considering how to oversee the response to the recommendations and how we join this up with existing areas of work.
FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT
If you have any comments, queries or ideas about the review, we would love to her from you: ELIRsupport@ed.ac.uk
Tina is Assistant Principal Academic Standards and Quality Assurance and Professor of Financial Services Marketing and Consumption. Tina joined the University in 1993 and continues to maintain an active academic role in the Business School. She has had overall responsibility for the University’s quality assurance framework as Assistant Principal since 2009. She plays a key role in the Scottish HE quality landscape as a member of QAA Scotland’s Advisory Board, chair of the sparqs University Advisory Group, and member of the Quality Arrangements for Scottish Higher Education (QASHE) group.
