Assessment Methods

This page contains information about the different assessment methods deployed by the Designated Quality Body (DQB) until 31 March 2023.

We have published data on the assessments that were undertaken by the DQB for the Quality and Standards Review, Standards Assessment, and Degree Awarding Powers methods.

Data on assessment activity by the DQB

The methods used were:

Quality and Standards Review

Quality and Standards Review (QSR) provided evidence to the Office for Students (OfS) to allow the OfS to make judgements about whether providers meet the requirements of the OfS regulatory framework and to allow the OfS to make a decision regarding the initial conditions of registration.

Quality and Standards Review – Monitoring and Intervention

Quality and Standards Review – Monitoring and Intervention was a method for registered providers to be assessed, in line with the provisions within the OfS regulatory framework to allow consider whether a provider met the ongoing conditions of registration. Please note that the reports for this method are not published.

Standards Assessment

The purpose of a Standards Assessment was for the DQB to scrutinise the courses that a provider will deliver when it was registered with the OfS, whether or not they were currently delivered, and reach a judgement about whether the standards set in those courses appropriately reflected sector-recognised standards. 

Degree Awarding Powers

We conducted assessments of English higher education providers to provide advice to the OfS regarding the quality of, and the standards applied to, higher education provided by a provider seeking degree awarding powers.

Once we had conducted an assessment, applications for degree awarding powers are considered by the Advisory Committee for Degree Awarding Powers (ACDAP), which formed advice to the Office for Students in line with the Higher Education and Research Act 2017.

Please note different arrangements apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and QAA remains responsible for those assessments – details can be found on the QAA website.

External Quality Assurance for End-point Assessment Organisations

There were two significant stages to this method. Readiness checks were the initial stage and ensured that a provider was ready to undertake end-point assessment of apprentices. External quality assurance (EQA) monitoring provided ongoing oversight of EQA activity at a provider to ensure that it delivered relevant, consistent and comparable results, using assessment methodology that was fit for purpose and ensured the occupational competence of all apprentices that pass their end-point assessment.

In line with the requirements of the EQA Framework published by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, we have not published data or reports regarding assessments conducted under this method.