DQB commits to transparency and student reviewers

8 July 2022

The Designated Quality Body in England (DQB) has announced that it will publish its reports from all reviews commissioned by the Office for Students (OfS). It will also include a student reviewer on each review team. In both cases, the practices are in line with standard international practice for quality bodies, reflected in the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG). The changes to practice will take place immediately, with reports from current and future reviews being published at the point of regulatory decision-making, and reports from previous reviews to be published in the near future where they are not already available.

Rob Stroud, Director of the DQB, commented: ‘We believe that the interests of students are best served by our reports being made publicly visible, not just provided to the regulator. We also believe having student input on review teams is beneficial. The DQB has inherited a situation where these internationally standard practices were not followed in England, but it is right that we should follow best practice going forward.’