Academic Standards and Quality

Periodic Review reporting arrangements

Stage 1

The Secretary to the review will complete a Stage 1 report based on the Stage 1 questionnaire in consultation with ASPO, and will submit this, with any recommendations, to the Chair of the Periodic Review. The report from Stage 1 of the Periodic Review is included in the documentation for Stage 2 of the process, and will be considered at the Stage 2 event.

The report resulting from Stage 1 is valid for 5 years, subject to any recommendations being met.

Stage 2 Periodic Review report

The Secretary to the review will complete a report using the Periodic Review report proforma. This report will be submitted to the appropriate Faculty Education Committee for approval.

In addition, the Dean may refer particular reports for consideration by Academic Board or the Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee if they raise University-wide issues.

The periodic review report summarises the panel’s conclusions and specifies any conditions that are to be met to successfully complete the periodic review process. It is usual for the panel to specify the date by which the conditions must be met and to recommend when the course would be subject to the next periodic review, which for most courses is five years.

There are normally two possible outcomes from a periodic review event, one of which will conclude the report:

recommendation for the course(s) to continue to be offered, in which case no further action by the course team is required
recommendation for the course(s) to continue to be offered with conditions and/or recommendations, in which case the course team must provide the Chair with evidence, within any agreed timescales, that the conditions have been met, and must respond to any recommendations.

In exceptional circumstances the report may recommend suspension of the periodic review process whilst the course team undertakes a major revision to the course(s) under review.

Commendations allow the panel a chance to congratulate the course team on aspects of good practice.

Conditions are those issues that must be addressed to the satisfaction of the review panel prior to successful periodic review, by agreed deadlines or through the Annual Review of Courses Report process.

Recommendations are those issues on which action is to be considered, possibly beyond the start of the following academic session.

The review panel may not set further conditions after it has reported.

Page last updated: 16 August 2013