Work is underway in England and Northern Ireland to develop a Key Information Set or KIS. The work stems from a perceived need by UK government to improve the provision, use and impact of public information and its importance is likely to grow in light of the Browne review.
The proposals aim to ensure that institutions provide prospective students with reliable information that is easier to access and more easily comparable between different institutions.
KIS would include 16 items including information about study hours, assessment methods, graduate employment outcome, professional accreditation, fee information, scholarships and bursaries and key student satisfaction data as sourced from NSS.
The information would be located on institutional websites with the UCAS website also providing links.
Whilst Scotland is not required to participate in KIS, early indications are that institutions here are likely to adopt much of it as it is so closely related to recruitment.
A key area that the review of the quality arrangements will consider is the provision of public information in Scotland.
More information regarding KIS can be found http://www.hefce.ac.uk/whatwedo/lt/
There is some concern in Scotland that KIS will not fully reflect the approach Scotland would like to take. KIS might be seen as a blunt tool focused on a consumer choice model and not the partnership model we advocate. Whilst some of the information in KIS might be useful to students are there other ways Scotland might promote prospective student information and choice? What about current students? Is there information they would like to be more accessible about the quality of their courses? How can we harness the range of work undertaken by Scottish institutions at enhancing the student experience to enable students to get a rich picture of the type of institutions they might choose the study at?
