The UK's
independent higher education quality body has commended Edinburgh Napier
University for a range of good practice, including its ‘strategic approach to
widening participation and direct entry’ and its ‘support for developing
students’ skills in employability, enterprise and entrepreneurship’.
The
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) appointed a team of five
independent experts to review the University in October and December last year.
In particular, the team commended the University in seven areas:
- Our
strategic approach to widening participation
- Our
support for developing students’ skills in employability, enterprise and
entrepreneurship
- Our
approach to monitoring postgraduate student academic progress
- Our
systematic enhancement of leadership in learning, teaching and research
- The
clear partnership working between academic and professional services staff
- The
effective development available for academic and support services staff
- The
developing institutional approach to the use of data
Alyson Tobin, Vice Principal of
Learning and Teaching, said, “I’m delighted we’ve been commended
for our approach to widening access and for the support we give our students to
develop their employability skills. The report also highlights the
opportunities our students have to engage in entrepreneurial and professional
development opportunities to enable them to be successful in their future
careers.”
QAA's
report also makes a number of recommendations, asking the University
to:
- Ensure
there are clear student representative structures in place at all levels and
make sure there are effective arrangements in place for the recruitment,
training and support for student representatives
- Continue
to develop mechanisms to enhance student engagement and respond to the student
voice
- Continue
to develop support mechanisms for online learners, graduate apprentices,
transnational education students and other groups studying off campus
- Consider
introducing a structured and longitudinal institution-wide induction for
postgraduate research students
- Ensure
that all postgraduates who teach complete the mandatory course prior to
commencing teaching
- Progress
implementation of revisions to the institution-led review process
- Make
external examiners’ reports accessible to all students
- Review
the English language entry criteria and the proficiency of students on all transnational
education programmes.
Our full
QAA review outcome can be found on the QAA Scotland website.