Approval and review events

The Department of Quality Assurance and Enhancement coordinates an ongoing cycle of approval and review events at programme and subject level. All activities are designed to be robust and comprehensive, with events focusing on the assurance of academic standards, continuous quality enhancement and the student experience.

Programme Approval and Review

Programme Approval events take place when a new academic programme is proposed for delivery. A panel meets to consider the proposal and decide if the programme will be approved to run.

Programme Review events take place when an existing academic programme needs to be reviewed (normally every five years). A panel meets to consider things like the programme’s annual monitoring outcomes, ongoing viability, any proposed changes, and students’ experience of the programme.

Enhancement-Led Internal Subject Review (ELISR)

ELISR events take place when a whole subject area or department (rather than an individual programme) needs to be reviewed (normally every five years). A panel meets to consider a number of themes which impact the student experience within that particular area or department. ELISR events are often combined with programme approval and reviews.

Student engagement is crucial to these key quality assurance and enhancement activities and is interwoven through all aspects of each event’s end-to-end process.

How you can get involved:

As a student panel member

Student panel members bring the student perspective to the Programme Approval, Review, or ELISR event and offers many additional benefits for those who choose to undertake the role.

One previous student panel member said: “I gained professional experience and developed my confidence and professionalism, as well as critical thinking skills. I would definitely recommend”.

Being a student panel member is one of the highest levels of engagement in quality assurance and enhancement that you can undertake. It is an optional and paid opportunity for lead academic representatives, which requires a time commitment of several days.

You can find out more about the role and expectations; eligibility criteria; benefits of participation and the format of the events themselves in the dedicated FAQs.

As a student stakeholder

Any current students or recent graduates from the programme or subject being reviewed are student stakeholders.

You may be invited by your Programme Leader to participate in an event as a student stakeholder to share your experiences of being a student on your programme or in your Department. Student stakeholders are typically required to commit around one hour of their time on the day of the event and you are encouraged to take part if you can.

You can find out more about the role of student stakeholders and benefits of participating in the dedicated FAQs.

All students

All students can get involved in Programme Approval, Review and ELISR  in two main ways: