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A new assessment of teaching quality has reportedly sent “shockwaves” through the traditional higher education hierarchy.
According to the Guardian, out of 21 Russel Group universities that took on the “Teaching Excellence Framework” (TEF), only eight institutions won the gold rating with 10 being awarded silver. The prestigious London School of Economics (LSE) which is currently rated second in the QS global rankings for social sciences, scraped through with the lowest bronze rating.
It is the first time the standards of teaching have been assessed in this way in the UK with the TEF sitting alongside the Research Excellence Framework (REF).
The acting director of the Russell Group, Dr Tim Bradshaw, warned that the data does not “measure absolute quality”. He said: “This is a trial year. We need to recognise that developing a robust TEF that is truly reflective of the UK’s excellent higher education sector will take time.
“TEF does not measure absolute quality and we have raised concerns that the current approach to flags and benchmarking could have a significant unintended impact."
Last month academic booksellers and publishers were warned that they need to promote their profile or risk “slipping away” into insignificance as a result of TEF. However, the market research report on Resource Provision in Higher Education also suggested that booksellers are upbeat about the new opportunities from TEF and that the publishing market will be stimulated by new products because of it.
The report, from market research firm Gold Leaf, and sponsored by the Booksellers Association, was presented at the BA's Academic Book Trade Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon on 18th May. The document cited an unnamed senior director of a bookselling chain who said: “As a company, we see the TEF as a commercial opportunity….it’s a good way to widen participation, make sure students are up to speed, give them university-funded resources.”
It is believed that the assessment will trigger demand for new products to bring to market, such as more localised textbook editions and lead to more quality materials linked to TEF requirements, improve communications with universities and explore new business models.
However 71% of publishers surveyed for the report said they intended to sell more directly to institutions in the future as a result of TEF. One said: “I think things will change. We used to do everything through bookshops. Now universities are coming to us and more and more campus bookshops are closing.”
The report's co-author Linda Bennett also said that academic publishers and booksellers needed to work together to raise awareness among politicians and senior educators of the role learning resources will play in delivering the new assessment. She told the conference: “Publishers and booksellers, the Publishers Association and the Booksellers Association need to shout about what the industry does and give it a higher profile with the government and universities.
“We are at a crossroads at the moment. Whether we get a higher profile or gradually slip away is up to you.”
In January, head of retail at Blackwell and chairman of the BA’s Academic Booksellers Group, Scott Hamilton, said that the TEF results, which he dubbed “Ofsted for Universities” could encourage lecturers to recommend particular titles and place primacy on the most effective books for teaching and learning. He told readers of The Bookseller: “Bookshops are on the front foot here. Imagine a university open day and the prospective student asks, ‘Where is your bookshop?’ and is told that it doesn’t have one. That’s not a good selling point for the university.”
Oxford and Cambridge both won gold ratings, as did Nottingham, Newcastle, Leeds, Imperial College, Birmingham and Exeter according to The Guardian. The table was decided by a panel of 27 assessors and are based on statistics including dropout rates, student satisfaction survey results and graduate employment rates such as the proportion of graduates who go on to work in high-skill jobs.