ABSTRACT
Subject Review is a quality assurance procedure for teaching and learning in UK higher education. The Quality Assurance Agency oversees this exercise. However, the assessors are recruited from the academic community. There are six aspects audited: learning resources; curriculum development and organization; teaching, learning and assessment; quality management and enhancement; student progress and achievement; and student support. There is an Aspect Group meeting for each area in which assessors interrogate staff. Often, staff are required to produce further documentary evidence, at short notice, as a consequence of concerns raised by assessors in Aspect Group meetings. Each aspect is scored out of four. The highest score for an institution is 24. There are three sources of data: observation of teaching sessions; interviews with students, staff and employers; and scrutiny of documentation. The latter is housed in a baseroom. This contains volumes of information about courses, quality assurance procedures, organizational policies, samples of student work, minutes of meetings, information to students, etc. For some, Subject Review is viewed as a valuable opportunity for organizational development and reflection. While others experience it as a highly corrosive form of performance and regulation.
