Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022

Assessment of quality in higher education

54 Assessment of quality of higher education

(1) The Commission must assess, or make arrangements for the assessment of, the quality of higher education provided—

(a) by each registered provider;

(b) on behalf of each registered provider (whether by another registered provider or by an external provider).

(2) The duty in subsection (1) applies to the assessment of higher education relating to the provider’s category of registration.

(3) The Commission may assess, or make arrangements for the assessment of, the quality of higher education provided in Wales by any tertiary education provider.

(4) The Commission must publish a report of each assessment carried out under this section.

(5) The Welsh Ministers may, by regulations—

(a) require assessments under subsection (1) to be conducted at intervals specified in the regulations;

(b) require reports under subsection (4) to be published before the end of a period specified in the regulations.

(6) Before making regulations under subsection (5), the Welsh Ministers must consult the Commission.

(7) In this Part, references to an external provider are references to a person who—

(a) is not a registered provider, but

(b) is responsible for providing all or part of a course of higher education on behalf of a registered provider;

and references to a governing body in relation to an external provider that is not an institution are references to the persons responsible for the provider’s management.

(8) For the purposes of subsection (7)(b), the Welsh Ministers may make provision by regulations about the circumstances in which a person is (or is not) to be treated as responsible for providing a course (or part of it).

55 Action plans following assessments under section 54

(1) This section applies to assessments conducted under section 54(1)(a) and (b) and published in accordance with section 54(4).

(2) The governing body of a registered provider that provides the higher education assessed, or on behalf of which the higher education is provided (as the case may be), must—

(a) prepare a written statement of the action it proposes to take in the light of the report and the period within which it proposes to take it;

(b) send the statement to the Commission and, if the assessment was conducted by a designated body, the designated body.

(3) The governing body making the statement must publish it.

(4) Compliance with the duties under subsections (2) and (3) is to be treated as an ongoing registration condition that applies to the registered provider for the purposes of section 39 (directions in respect of failure to comply with ongoing registration conditions) and section 41 (de-registration).

56 Exercise of higher education assessment functions by a designated body

(1) Schedule 3 makes provision—

(a) about the designation of a body to exercise the assessment functions;

(b) about oversight of the designated body by the Commission;

(c) for the body to charge fees.

(2) For the purposes of this Chapter, “the assessment functions” are the functions of the Commission under section 54 (assessing the quality of higher education).

(3) Where a body has been designated under Schedule 3 to exercise the assessment functions, the functions under section 54 do not cease to be exercisable by the Commission.