Many aspects of learning and teaching in universities and colleges are shaped or decided at a national level by various sector agencies and their committees. We work at this level to contribute to these discussions and help students play a part in them.
There are a wide range of agencies and representative bodies for Scotland's universities and colleges, and we work closely with them all. You can find out more about them via their websites, which you can find on the bottom of our home page.
See our Quality Arrangements page for information on how the sector ensures that the education that happens at colleges and universities is as good as possible. In July 2024, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) published Guidance on Quality for Colleges and Universities AY 2024-25 to AY 2030-31 - outlining the single tertiary approach to quality for colleges and universities, which the sector had been working towards over the previous few years. This new tertiary approach seeks to put the experiences of students and partnership with students at the centre of the Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF). To facilitate this, SFC commissioned sparqs to develop a shared sector reference point - the Student Learning Experience model, launched in October 2023, as well as Scotland's Ambition for Student Partnership, launched in October 2024.
Prior to the joint tertiary approach now in place, colleges and universities had separate quality arrangements and review systems, which you can read about on our archived webpage on the arrangements prior to 2024-25.
Over many years, we worked closely with QAA Scotland on the Enhancement Themes, one of the five elements of the Quality Enhancement Framework (QEF) for higher education. The final Theme concluded in 2023, but you can read about the range of projects and resources developed in partnership over the years on our archived Enhancement Themes webpage.
Within this section of our website you can also find out about our engagement with sector meetings and how we support student engagement in them through our Tertiary Quality Student Expert Group (TQSEG).
You can also read about our work around learner journeys and our contribution to sector work around student mental health and wellbeing.
See our jobs board for details of sector vacancies related to student engagement. The page is regularly updated with current roles.
You can find more about our Supporting the Sector pages in the links on the right under "This section".
sparqs' lead member of staff for Supporting the Sector is currently Eve Lewis and you are welcome to get in touch with her regarding any questions about this work.
