Quality Framework Performance in One Year of COVID-19 Restrictions in a Higher Education Institute

Abstract

The entire academic year 2020-21 was completed under COVID-19 restrictions. This created challenges for students and staff, and to the quality frameworks that underpin the higher education (HE) being offered. Higher education (HE) quality frameworks were tested in a manner that had not been foreseen on their creation.

This work examines the performance of one HE framework, which was created long before national lockdowns or social distancing, after an entire academic year of 2020-21.

Critical evaluation will be offered by the authors, by external examiners, from student surveys and from an institutional quality review panel which took place in the academic year. The aim is to evaluate if the quality framework was sufficiently robust to offer our students a quality education experience, to evaluate the impact of some operational modifications and to reassure the public in terms of the standard of our graduates.