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Senates face emasculation

Article Abstract:

The introduction of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) may take away some of the powers from university senates. Some observers have criticised the practice of individual universities setting their own academic standards, as leading to a wide variation between establishments. But methods used by the QAA may lead to standards being too generalized. The QAA will train examiners who would evaluate university courses. Some 40 subjects would have benchmarks to specify the standards expected in each course. It may lead to the outside examiners evaluating courses in which they are not expert.

United Kingdom, Schools, Education, Educational standards

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Scholarly view transformed into legal tussle

Article Abstract:

It has become increasingly common in the UK for students to pursue a grievance against the academic staff of a college or university. In some cases, the student makes a semi-formal complaint, while in other cases the grievance has even gone as far as court action. This is particularly common in relation to examination grades. Legal action has proved successful in cases where the court has found that an examination board has operated in an irregular way. This trend may eventually prompt academic staff to seek legal insurance and shift to defensive grading and lecturing.

Cases, Negligence

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