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The Annual Enhancement Review (AER) and Collaborative Provision Programme Appraisal & Enhancement (CP-PAE) processes are pivotal to the university’s programme monitoring process to ensure academic standards are being maintained.

Faculty provision: For information about the Annual Enhancement Review (AER) for 2024/25 please go to the staff intranet, ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ Connect, and search 'AER'. For queries please email daq@dmu.ac.uk.

Collaborative provision (CP): Please use the CP PAE form and CP PAE guidance in the Guidance and forms section below. The deadline date for completion of 2024/25 CP-PAEs is 18 October 2024.

For further information or advice please contact your faculty quality lead. Collaborative partners should contact Kathryn Butler.

Periodic review is the university's mechanism for evaluating programmes and subjects holistically, taking a view of the quality and standards of the provision, and allowing for external and independent confirmation. This secures the confidence of external agencies by providing evidence that the university can self-regulate. Benefits of the process also include enabling new approaches and current practices to be developed and enhanced, and for good practice to be recognised and disseminated. The periodic review focus has been refreshed to ensure greater emphasis on risk management and flexibility regarding the format and mode (virtual, blended, face to face) of review events.

Periodic Review for postgraduate taught and undergraduate provision will be subject based. The following principles underpin the approach to periodic review:

• The scope of each review must be such to enable appropriate level of scrutiny and consideration
• Faculty based collaborative provision will be included within faculty periodic review events. University Wide Learning (UWL) provision will have its own separate periodic reviews.
• Review groupings will be determined based on what it is reasonable for a panel to consider.
• Faculties and Educational Partnerships will continue to be responsible for fees and travel expenses for external panel members, catering etc
• There will be a risk-based approach to review

Periodic review for postgraduate research (PGR) provision will be reviewed as a separate entity and this is to:

• Enable an appropriate level of scrutiny and ensure that any issues or good practice are fully explored
• Enable an appropriate level of scrutiny
• Provide an institutional perspective

To note that PGR provision will be referenced in subject review to ensure institutional perspective and context.

The periodic review process has been temporarily paused due to the re-approval process that the university is undertaking to move the courses to block delivery. A review process has been embedded within the revalidation activity and all programmes have been required to reflect on existing programmes when developing the new curriculum.

The 2023-24 guide to periodic review will be made available in the Autumn of 2023.

For further information regarding periodic review, please contact your faculty quality lead or Rebecca Thirlby.

PSRBs are external bodies which formally accredit, approve and recognise university programmes, setting standards for and regulating entry into particular professions. Such involvement from PSRBs forms part of the many ways the university ensures that professional standards and quality are maintained, and that students gain the skills and knowledge required by employers. Programmes are normally accredited for a specified period of time, with PSRBs returning to review and re-accredit for a further period.

¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ has an established track record of good management of PSRB links, with responsibility devolved to faculties. The university’s Education Committee is responsible for strategic oversight of the process. PSRB reports are utilised in the university’s academic quality management processes such as periodic review, programme monitoring, validation and revalidation.

Different types of PSRBs

Professional bodies accredit programmes to enable graduates to become members of organisations which provide formal recognition of their professional status. These are mostly a form of kite mark or quality mark looked for by employers.

Statutory bodies with a regulatory function require graduates to reach specific standards in order to register and enter a particular profession. Often these set standards for education, training, conduct and performance, ensuring skills and knowledge is up-to-date to uphold professional standards.

Additionally, some bodies accredit programmes as suitable for preparing graduates, but are not professional bodies and have no membership or regulation. These mostly set standards for education programmes, and accredit against those standards.

Find out more about PSRBs

Responsibility for PSRB relationships is devolved to faculties and the Associate Professor (Quality) or Head of Quality can assist with queries. The Department of Academic Quality maintains central oversight of PSRBs via a register which is available to staff on the SAP Knowledge Centre, accessible via ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ Connect. Please contact Laura Sanderson for more information.

The Annual Enhancement Review (AER) template and guidance is available to staff on ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ Connect.

Collaborative Provision - Programme Appraisal and Enhancement (CP-PAE)

Quick start guide for collaborative provision: Provides an overview to the Annual Quality Monitoring (AQM) process and includes some useful resources.

CP PAE guidance notes to completing the CP PAE form.