Keywords: Britain; Quality of higher education; academic review
The British Higher Education Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) was established on the basis of the original higher education examination and funding system. In close cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education, QAA has introduced a new quality assurance system through continuous adjustment. The established academic infrastructure includes four parts: degree qualification framework, discipline benchmark, curriculum specification and implementation rules. The basic academic norms describe in detail the academic standards and the conditions required for awarding degrees at different levels, focusing on the establishment, maintenance and improvement of academic standards and quality, which not only embodies the characteristics of diversification, multi-level and multi-specification, but also reflects the academic standards requirements under the unitary system of British higher education. The adoption of "top-down" and "bottom-up" methods in the specific operation of academic evaluation not only emphasizes the relative unity between the basic academic norms of colleges and universities and the basic norms formulated by QAA, but also respects the academic autonomy and individuality of colleges and universities. Academic quality evaluation focuses on the effectiveness of the quality management mechanism established by colleges and universities, forming an effective unity of internal and external quality management.
First, the multi-level, multi-specification and diversified academic basic norms under the monist system.
A major change in British higher education in the 1990s was the end of the dual-track system, and the multidisciplinary technical college was upgraded to a university. The goal of the unitary system of British higher education is to bridge the dividing line between universities and non-universities and reduce the inequality of educational opportunities. But in fact, the British higher education system is still quite complicated. Multidisciplinary technical colleges still maintain the characteristics of cultivating technical applied talents, and there are also higher education departments in the huge continuing education institutions. Therefore, some scholars believe that the current British higher education system is a "pluralistic model under the unitary system". The characteristics of British higher education system have influenced the quality assurance system and made corresponding adjustments.
The academic basic norms of the Higher Education Quality Assurance Bureau are established on the basis of consulting higher education institutions, mainly to clarify academic standards for schools and provide basis for specific practice. It includes four parts: 1) higher education qualification framework. By classifying and explaining the characteristics and qualifications of each degree, it includes two frameworks, one for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the other for Scotland. 2) Subject benchmark report. Discipline standards describe and conceptualize degree standards from the perspective of disciplines. This system has formulated a consistent and integral rule. Including the skills and skills that graduates of various disciplines need to master, the level of understanding of disciplines, and the intelligent requirements for obtaining degrees in this discipline, etc., so as to provide reference for higher education departments to design and implement courses. The formulation of discipline benchmarks is mainly based on the feedback from various industry associations and universities. From 2002 to 2005, 69 subject benchmarks were established. 3) Program specifications. Curriculum specification is a description of the corresponding courses provided by colleges and universities, including the knowledge and skills that need to be mastered and completed, as well as the methods of teaching and learning, examinations and subsequent employment opportunities, as well as the connection between courses and degree qualification framework. 4) Code of Practice. Implement academic standards and quality management rules and introduce reasonable operation methods. Each implementation rule provides implementation principles and programs for colleges and universities. At present, there are 10 detailed implementation plans, including detailed implementation plans for postgraduate research courses, cooperative education plans, learning plans for disabled students, external assessment methods, students' learning feedback, evaluation of students' learning quality, monitoring and auditing of curriculum objectives, employment education and guidance, learning configuration and relevant regulations for students' enrollment, etc.
EEC College has established its own internal teaching quality assurance system in strict accordance with the British education quality assurance system. Since its establishment eleven years ago, EEC College has always realized that the key to education is teachers, so we put the construction and stability of teachers in an important position. We have three systems to ensure the teaching quality of the college:
First, the European-British-Chinese Academic Committee should be established, strict academic standards should be formulated, and an effective internal quality control system should be established to ensure that the teaching quality can meet the established academic standards.
Secondly, since 2005, EEC has hired a group of experts from British universities to become the external quality assurance committee of the college. Every year, British partner colleges send external examiners to evaluate the quality of our teaching activities and all the teaching links of the college, so as to ensure that the students of EEC College can meet the same standards as the students of the same grade in Britain. For example, the academic director of AIVA is Professor Mi Kedemont, Dean of Birmingham College of Art and Design.
Thirdly, we also accept the quality system management of QAA in Britain. QAA sends two quality supervisors to our hospital for inspection every two months.