Overview - Quality Assurance
7.1 QAU Scheme: Overview
7.1.1 Coordination and Processing
(i) The Quality Assurance of Units (QAU) Scheme is coordinated by the Faculty Office and enquiries should be directed to the Faculty Executive Officer (ext. 3575).
(ii) Scanning and basic data analysis is conducted by an outside provider and scanning will occur twice per year.
(iii) The School Administration Manager (SAM) or Centre Executive Officer (CEO) will be responsible for coordinating their School’s/Centre’s QAU scheme.
(iv) The units chosen to be surveyed will be according to that stipulated by Faculty Development Committee (refer to Section 7.3 below)
(v) In weeks 11 and 33 of the calendar year, the Faculty Office will ask Schools to provide a written list detailing the unit title and code of each unit to be surveyed, the number of questionnaire forms (either General or Clinical) required for each unit to be surveyed.
(vi) Questionnaire forms will be distributed to SAMs/CEOs in weeks 15 and 36 of the calendar year unless forms are requested earlier. Early requests require a minimum of two weeks notice.
(vii) Heads of Schools and Centres have requested that they receive a copy of the results of common core units in which students of their School/Centre are enrolled. The SAM/CEO must provide the unit codes of these common core units.
(viii) If components of a unit are to be evaluated, Schools must inform the Faculty Executive Officer (FXO) and pay for the cost of scanning and data analysis.
(ix) Forms should be distributed, completed, collected and returned according to the procedures detailed in policy 07-02 QAU Procedures.
(x) Forms must be returned to the FXO by the end of week 32 of the calendar year (for units taught between 1 December to 30 June) or by the end of week 49 of the calendar year (for units taught between 1 July to 30 November). Units with nonstandard teaching periods will need to be included with one of these submissions.
7.1.2 Faculty Report to Schools
(i) The outside provider will provide the Faculty Office with the original forms, a summary sheet for each unit and the data analysis of results. All items will then be forwarded to SAMs/CEOs and the Heads of Schools/Directors of Centres.
(ii) Data reports for each unit will include:
- the mean and frequency distribution of answers for each QAU question;
- a summary table of the mean for each question in each unit and will highlight units where:
a) 20% or greater of the responses to the overall satisfaction question were adverse;
b) the mean overall satisfaction score was less than or equal to 3.0;
c) more than three questions received a score of less than or equal to 3.0
7.1.3 Unit Coordinator’s Report to the Head of School
(i) SAMs/CEOs will distribute the results to the relevant unit coordinators.
(ii) Unit Coordinators should only receive results for units for which they are responsible unless authorized by the Head of School/Director of Centre.
(iii) Unit Coordinators will summarise the open ended responses and provide the Head of School with a QAU summary of their unit using the Faculty pro forma.
(iv) In cases where 20% or greater of the responses to any question was adverse or the mean overall satisfaction score for the unit was less than or equal to 3, unit coordinators should provide specific comments in their report.
7.1.4 Head of School’s Report to the Dean
(i) Each Head of School/Director of Centre will be provided with a table showing those units which received an adverse feedback the previous year and those which received adverse feedback in the current year.
(ii) The Head of School/Director of Centre will provide feedback on those specific units as part of their report.
(iii) The report should contain:
- The University ‘Feedback on implementation of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Units’ pro forma;
- The completed table of units which received adverse feedback;
- A copy of each unit report;
(iv) The report should be submitted to the Dean no later than March 1 of the year following the year of the evaluations.
(v) The Dean must provide the University with a Faculty report by 31 March of the year following the evaluations. The Dean’s report will be submitted to FDC for comment prior to being submitted to the University.
(vi) It is a requirement of the University and DEST that quality assurance results be published as feedback to current and potential students. This will take the form of the result of the overall satisfaction question being published by School and Faculty on the Faculty Learning and Teaching website.
7.1.4.1 Summary and Commentary
The Summary Table for each unit provides some key indicators to assist in highlighting units for closer examination. In particular the report shows:
| No. | Description | General Form | Clinical Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | the number of question items with means in the adverse range (i.e. less than or equal to 3) column 14 column 15 | column 14 | column 15 |
| 2. | the units where at least 20% of the students answered negatively to the ‘overall satisfaction’ question | column 16 | column 17 |
| 3. | the units where the mean ‘overall satisfaction’ is relatively low (i.e. a score of less than or equal to 3) | column 17 | column 18 |
In addition to the requirements for the Head of School/Director of Centre report outlined above, the Head of School/Director of Centre may also wish to comment on:
- trends in the overall satisfaction, particularly for those units which were highlighted
in the previous year for improvement; - units which raise policy issues worthy of consideration by the Faculty (e.g.
proposals for changes to prerequisites); - innovative teaching methods which have proved successful in a particular unit.
Reviewed October 2005
Content sourced from: Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty Academic Policies and Procedures Manual, 07-01_QAU_Overview.pdf