This is a post in progress and the end of the story has yet to be revealed. A week ago I attended a delightful reunion with the people I worked with over 20 years ago between 1995-97 when I worked for the Higher Education Quality Council. I worked with a small group in what was called the Quality Enhancement Division. At that time UK HE had expanded beyond all recognition in the space of five years and the Government was, not surprisingly, worried about the effects of their policies on academic standards. The Universities and Colleges representative bodies, under pressure from Government, tasked HEQC with trying to find out what was happening and more imp[ortantly how higher education could strengthen the ways in which it explained and assured its standards.
My group (right) was given the job of engaging the sector in a major inquiry which we called the Graduate Standards Programme. The work was intensive, challenging and very rewarding. It gave me a chance to engage with many people as I worked on modularisation and its effects. We produced over a dozen reports and presented our findings to many audiences across the UK.
My group (right) was given the job of engaging the sector in a major inquiry which we called the Graduate Standards Programme. The work was intensive, challenging and very rewarding. It gave me a chance to engage with many people as I worked on modularisation and its effects. We produced over a dozen reports and presented our findings to many audiences across the UK.
| | The main thrust of our Final Report was that universities and colleges should be more explicit in defining their degree standards and the information, assumptions and processes behind them. There should be common frameworks, structures and typologies to facilitate greater understanding of the relationships between the standards of one institution and those of another. These should incorporate collective, sector-wide expectations and understandings of the various levels and categories of award. The National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education Chaired by Lord Dearing was also active during this time and Ron Dearing visited us to consider our findings. A number of recommendations made in the Committee’s Report reflected the findings and recommendations of the GSP and paved the way for new regulatory (quality assurance) frameworks that were later developed by the Quality Assurance Agency which took over HEQCs functions in 1997. So what's the point of this story. Well one of the things that has always bothered me is its as if HEQC never existed and yet all of us who were a part know that we very much existed and played a significant brokerage role to enable the HE system to understand itself. None of HEQC's publications were digital (and its a significant omission that so far a part from my efforts here they have not yet been digitised) consequently HEQC has virtually no digital presence on the internet. I felt it was right to honour the work of all the people who worked for HEQC, several of whom have sadly died. |
So I decided to try and create a wikipedia page. I was still in touch with Roger Brown (HEQC CEO) and the Directors of the Audit Division (Peter Williams) and Enhancement Division (Robin Middlehurst). Together we put an outline together which was factually correct and I posted my draft article in my sandbox on the wikipedia site and invited a reviewer to look at it. To my surprise it was rejected by the peer reviewer who noted that 'This submission's references do not adequately show the subject's notability. Wikipedia requires significant coverage about the subject in reliable sources that are independent of the subject.' For the past week I have been trying to glean references to HEQC's work and existence that are relevant and appropriate. It has been quite a task involving hours of searches but I hope I have now done enough to justify our existence. So watch this space!
Sadly it got rejected again with a similar message. I was very frustrated so I have now passed it to another former HEQC colleague who has promised to look at it. And so the story goes on..
Sadly it got rejected again with a similar message. I was very frustrated so I have now passed it to another former HEQC colleague who has promised to look at it. And so the story goes on..
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