Quality Enhancement
This page provides links to key documents and internal and external websites related to the quality enhancement of the student experience.
Links to internal documents
The Student Partnership Agreement (SPA) for the period 2024-26 sets out arrangements for student representation and engagement. It also includes priority activities for sessions 2024-25 and 2025-26. The SPA is updated regularly and signed by the Student Presidents on behalf of the SU and the Principal on behalf of the University.
¹ú²úÂÒÂ× Student Experience Strategy 2021-26 The Student Experience Strategy was approved by the University Senate on 15 December 2021. The Strategy has been developed in partnership between the University and the Students’ Union. It includes three high level principles for the student experience, as set out below. These are inter-related and of equal importance.
- All ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× students experience a transformative journey through outstanding learning and teaching and co- and extra-curricular opportunities that enable them to achieve their individual goals and enhance their well-being.
- We share individual and collective responsibility for enhancing and placing the student experience at the heart of our thinking and practice.
- We establish, maintain and contribute to communities and a learning environment that supports our students to flourish and succeed and actively influences wider society.
The Strategy details high level actions for the period 2021-26. A detailed Delivery Plan setting out priorities for each academic session will be considered and refreshed annually by the Student Experience Committee. If you have any questions or feedback on the Strategy, please contact Dawn Martin, Secretary to the Student Experience Committee.
External website links
The Scottish Enhancement Themes ran from 2002 to 2024. Whilst the Themes have now been superseded by the new quality arrangements in Scotland, the website remains a valuable resource for staff and students.
The Enhancement Themes provided opportunity, through a programme of national activities, for the sector to reflect on current and future practice in Higher Education. Outputs from the Themes can be used to inform approaches to learning and teaching, as well as student support. The final Enhancement Theme, Resilient Learning Communities, was launched in 2020 s. Within ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×, activities related to the Theme were co-ordinated by a cross-institutional Project Team, reporting into the Student Experience Committee. For further information on ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×'s Enhancement Themes activity, please contact Dawn Martin, Assistant Secretary, Governance and Quality Enhancement.
The SPARQS development service supports institutions with student engagement in quality assurance and enhancement. Staff from the Division of Governance and Quality Enhancement and Students' Union at ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× work with SPARQS Development Advisers to monitor and improve student representation in all quality related activities.
Quality enhancement processes
The includes five following inter-related strands:
- A comprehensive framework of internal subject reviews in Scottish HEIs, with details of methodology delegated to institutions but including a clear role for the views of students, the use of trained reviewers and the involvement of external reviewers.
- The publication of an agreed set of data provided by HEIs.
- The systematic involvement of students at all levels in the institution, together with the training and support of student representatives and national surveys of the student experience. Support for student involvement is provided by , a national development service that provides training for student representatives and advice on student engagement in quality processes.
- Quality enhancement activities, which take the form of a structured programme involving all Scottish HEIs and based on selected national for each year.
- Enhancement led institutional review (ELIR), based on a five-year cycle, which provides information on the security of the institution’s procedures for the management of quality and standards and focused on the institution's strategic management of quality enhancement. ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×'s most recent ELIR (April 2018) confirms that the University has effective arrangements for managing academic standards and the student learning experience and that these arrangements are likely to continue to be effective in the future.
Quality management processes and arrangements at ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× are continuously developing in line with the Quality Enhancement Framework.
