Open consultations
The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) consultation on revision of external quality assurance review requirements
HEFCW is consulting on aligning external quality review cycles for higher education with requirements in Scotland and Northern Ireland. External reviews in Wales are proposed to take place over a five rather than six year cycle. The Quality Assurance Agency will undertake these and also have access to information from HEFCW on complaints received about a provider by the funding council and analysis of relevant data. Reviews will include recommendations to providers on teaching quality enhancement – and institutions are expected to have a clear strategy in relation to this.
The consultation closes on 17 December, and will report in March 2022. The EPC proposes an Executive response in collaboration with our Welsh members.
Delivering a UK Science & Technology Strategy
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee called for evidence on what the UK science and technology strategy should look like and how the UK’s research and innovation system can deliver it. The Committee is taking oral evidence from February 2022.
In the interests of brevity in such a wide reaching inquiry, the EPC response highlighted the role of engineering education in levelling up, sustainability, post-pandemic recovery, and the differences between science research and engineering research. We also highlighted the EPC’s work around industry/academia collaboration.
We raised specific concerns around Horizon funding, skills shortages in STEM and funding the engineering skills pipeline. We also highlighted opportunities around innovation and entrepreneurship and making the UK attractive to international engineering talent.