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Universities in England will be ranked like medals from the middle of next year, according to the latest developments in the Teaching Excellence Framework. Here’s what you need to know.
What is The Teaching Excellence Framework?
Set up by the government, The Teaching Excellence Framework is how the standard of teaching quality will be judged in the future. Its purpose is to ensure you get the best teaching possible and be as informed as possible when it comes to choosing schools.
Currently still under construction and debated by the bigwigs in parliament, no one really knows the final details of what this framework will entail, but rest assured we’ll keep you updated of the latest developments as and when they happen.
What Are the Rankings?
Just like medals, the rankings will be Gold, Silver or Bronze depending on the quality of the university.
Gold means cream of the crop. The universities that achieve this will have “Outstanding levels of stretch that ensures all students are significantly challenged to achieve their full potential”.
Silver means the university will have “High levels of stretch that ensures all students are significantly challenged”
Bronze are institutions that are “of a satisfactory quality … however, the provider is likely to be significantly below benchmark in one or more areas.” Bronze status will automatically be given to universities that already have a QAA judgement, so they can raise fees in line with inflation from September 2018.
What Do the Rankings Mean?
In order to get their rankings, universities will be assessed on a range of things including student satisfaction, dropout rate and graduate employment rate (with their career’s skill level being taken into account). Universities will have these rankings for up to three years, after this point they’re likely to be assessed again.
When Will This Happen?
These rankings will be implemented by mid-2017. This mean if you’re looking to go to university next September, you’ll be able to take rankings into account when you make your final decision.
Although these rankings will only be given to English universities, institutions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can opt in to be ranked. However, unlike English universities, they won’t be able to adjust their fees based on their ranking.
What Are People Saying About it?
The universities minister Jo Johnson has said: “The framework will give students clear, understandable information about where the best teaching is on offer and for the first time place teaching quality on a par with research at our universities.”
Aaron Porter, the Director of Insights at Hotcourses, says, ““The idea of a gold, silver and bronze awards for teaching will undoubtedly raise eyebrows in universities, particularly with the link to fees.
We still wait to see whether TEF itself will actually do anything to raise the standard of teaching, or is simply a smokescreen to allow universities to charge higher fees through the back door.
Question marks will also be raised whether it’s legitimate to award a university a ‘bronze’ for teaching, whilst simultaneously describing the provision as “significantly below benchmark in some areas.” If you win an Olympic bronze you are the third best in the world, if you secure a TEF bronze you are ‘significantly below benchmark.’”
These new rankings certainly do raise some interesting questions. For example, what does this mean for Russell Group universities? Are they an unnecessary categorisation or something that will lead to better teaching for you? We’ll soon find out, and of course, we’ll let you know the minute we do!
Latest News
The house of Lords has now voted in favour of three amendments to the TEF, opposed by the Government – two of which are key.
The first states that it cannot be a ‘single composite ranking’ but should be based on existing systems in place to guarantee high standards – taking particular aim at the ‘crude’ gold, silver and bronze labels. So now the TEF will no longer be linked to fees, and no longer a ranking.
The second states that new providers would have to be established for 4 years before they can be authorised to award their own UK degrees by the OfS – slowing the entrance of new providers to the market.
