Degree Standards External Evaluation

The Higher Education Academy (HEA) have been awarded the contract by HEFCE, on behalf of the four UK Funding Councils for higher education, to lead a project related to degree standards, running from August 2016 to July 2018. This will involve the HEA leading on the design, piloting and delivery of: • a sustainable generic model for the professional development of external examiners through working with a range of higher education providers, and through online and face-to-face delivery. • calibration exercises in collaboration with subject associations and Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRBs). An external evaluator is required to undertake a robust evaluation relating to the feasibility, validity, reliability, impact and longer term credibility in the sector of the professional development and calibration approaches developed in the first year of the project, and of the generic professional development course delivered in the second year of the project. The determined evaluation methodology will enable evidence-informed decision-making by the Funding Councils on the most effective professional development and calibration approaches.