Joint degrees and validation agreements with overseas partners have become a huge growth area for British universities in recent years. But the ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Funding Council for England signalled in its consultation on the risk-based quality assurance regime, published yesterday, that it wants closer monitoring of standards in collaborative provision with partners at home and abroad.

The proposals ¡°respond to concerns that varying forms of collaborative provision may place academic quality and standards at greater risk¡±, Hefce says in the consultation document.

The move follows the scandal over the University of Wales¡¯ lucrative validation agreements with partners in the UK and around the world.

Hefce proposes that additional modules could be added to the institutional reviews undertaken by the Quality Assurance Agency ¨C every six years at present ¨C in order to look closely at collaborative provision.

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¡°Examples of such modules would be where degree-awarding institutions validate programmes of study leading to their awards in partner organisations in the UK and internationally,¡± Hefce says, adding: ¡°Other modules might focus on distance learning programmes, branch campuses or joint ventures.¡±

Hefce says that depending on the outcome of the consultation, these modules could replace the QAA¡¯s collaborative provision audit.

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The document continues: ¡°Collaborative provision, by virtue of its more complex nature¡­can present more challenges to the maintenance of academic standards and quality than other forms of higher education provision.¡±

The modules would take place at the same time as institutional reviews.

But Hefce adds that ¡°where there is a significant change, such as growth, in a provider¡¯s collaborative provision, but no formal review is due for a number of years, one or more collaborative provision modules might be regarded as a trigger by the external panel for an out-of-cycle QAA engagement¡±.

john.morgan@tsleducation.com