College receives highest rating in higher education for second year

East Riding College is celebrating yet again after the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), the body responsible for assuring the quality of higher education provision in England, gave the College the highest level of confidence it can bestow upon a provider. 

The quality visit provides an expert, independent judgement on the quality of the College’s degree-level provision – known as higher education. 

Like Ofsted for schools and further education, a QAA visit ensures that students’ interests are protected and that the College has effective arrangements to ensure the quality of the student experience.

The College’s report issued in April 2020 found that the reviewers had “confidence that the College has a reliable, fair and inclusive admission system” that the College “actively engages students, individually and collectively, in the quality of their educational experience”, as well as having “fair and transparent procedures for handling complaints and appeals”.  The review team had a high degree of confidence in its judgement on all areas reviewed.

A QAA review involves students throughout the process, including a student submission before the reviewers’ visit and meetings with student representatives. The review highlights that, “Both staff and students provided many examples of the College changing and improving students' learning experience as a result of student engagement.”

Mike Welsh, Principal and Chief Executive of East Riding College said, “We’re very proud of our higher education offer, which gives people in Bridlington, Beverley, Driffield, Hull and the surrounding area, the opportunity to study locally all the way up to post-graduate (Masters) levels.  I’ve always been confident that we deliver outstanding higher education and give our students an excellent experience at the College, and this, our second QAA review confirms that.  Our reviewers had nothing but the highest level of confidence that we deliver what we promise.”

Teresa George, Director of Curriculum Programmes, Learning and Quality added, “Our HE and support staff deserve the recognition for the work they do to ensure an excellent experience for our HE students, from application right through to graduation.  In essence, the report confirms that our applicants and students can expect to be treated fairly, and that we will involve them and listen to them, in order to deliver the best experience possible.  It was encouraging to see our student involvement and high levels of student satisfaction recognised too.” 

The most recently published National Student Survey (NSS) puts East Riding College in the top 10% of universities and colleges in the UK for its teaching on its higher education courses.  The annual survey also put the College in the top 15% in the UK for overall student satisfaction.

Anyone interested in studying higher education at the College can attend the College’s next HE & Access to HE Virtual Open Event on 20 May 6-7pm