Quality Assurance for UK Education and Training
All schools, colleges and universities accepting international students must have Highly Trusted Status on the UKVI list of approved education providers. This means they have been inspected, audited and reviewed by their relevant inspection bodies.
Quality assurance for UK qualifications
The UK is also renowned for the quality of its qualifications. There is a strict quality framework with authoritative bodies charged with ensuring that high quality standards are met. For new qualifications to be accredited they must meet all the requirements set out in regulations in Quality frameworks. Accredited, or regulated, qualifications are those that are reviewed, recognised and monitored by regulatory bodies to ensure they meet high quality standards and other important criteria. As soon as qualifications are accredited they are listed in the Register of Regulated Qualifications, together with a list of recognised awarding organisations who have the power to award the qualifications. The regulators also have the power to withdraw accreditation. Non-accredited qualifications, on the other hand, are not regulated and there is no guarantee that they meet the right standards.
Quality Assurance for Higher Education
Universities in the UK are independent, all have their own special character, and all have to prove they meet high quality assurance standards set by government and regulatory bodies. Courses of study must constantly prove their quality standard and meet strict criteria.
The Higher Education Funding Councils have a statutory duty to assess the quality of the education they fund, and they do so via the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), a UK-wide body set up by the higher education sector itself.
The Higher Education Funding Councils also monitor the quality of research through the Research Excellence Framework (REF)