UA’s comment on Jo Johnson’s speech at UUK conference

Commenting on Jo Johnson’s speech at Universities UK Conference and the government’s response to the TEF Lessons Learned Exercise, University Alliance Chief Executive Maddalaine Ansell said:

“The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) has played an important role in highlighting excellent teaching across universities with different missions, but it was always expected to be a work in progress and we are pleased the government is willing to adapt it in the light of experience.  We very much welcome the steps to create a level playing field for universities with a high number of part-time students, and proposals to allow institutions to hold TEF awards for up to five years after 2020 will increase stability in the system.

“We will be looking for more clarity on how new ‘supplementary metrics’ will be handled in practice. Additional metrics have the potential to add value to the TEF but the emphasis of assessment should continue to be placed on widely agreed, understood and fairly comparable performance indicators.

“University Alliance is committed to excellent technical and professional education – that’s why this year we are piloting a Teaching Excellence Alliance focused on developing, defining and championing our unique model of teaching excellence.”

Notes to editors

  1. Dr Sam Grogan, Director of the Teaching Excellence Alliance and Pro Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience at the University of Salford wrote a blog for Wonkhe about the TEA earlier this summer.

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