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Quality Assurance in HECA Colleges During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Analysis through the lens of QQI’s Core Criteria

The National Forum’s 2020 Network and Discipline Fund was launched in November 2020 and focuses on Shared Solutions to Common Challenges. Its overarching aim is to support networks and discipline groups to work together to respond proactively to identified challenges in teaching and learning in higher education, including those that have come to light through the sudden move to online/remote teaching and learning. The National Forum’s 2020 Network and Discipline Fund, drawing on the Higher Education Colleges’ Association (HECA) members’ experience, provided the HECA Academic Quality Enhancement Forum(HAQEF) with opportunities to strengthen its networks and discipline group, support their efforts to enhance teaching and learning, and produce useful insights and resources into the application of quality assurance of blended and online learning. In the pandemic period, many colleges were forced to change from a face-to-face delivery model of education and training to an online format of delivery. This disruption meant that assumptions about and plans for how the courses were to be delivered and managed had to be rapidly reviewed. With government pronouncements advising all staff to work from home where possible, the majority of internal roles and processes of colleges were also affected. The quality assurance (QA) policies, processes and procedures that were developed by colleges had to be modified to reflect this change in circumstances. This document reports on the results of a mixed methods study of QA developments that came about as a result of the initial changes enforced by the pandemic and the move to working from home. It also looked at what was learned about the management of quality in this sector during this time. Data was collected by HAQEF via a survey of QA personnel from the member colleges of HECA and follow up interviews. The survey consisted of 11 questions, one for each Core Area of Quality, as set out in the QQI Core QA Guidelines (2016). The questions asked for reflections on each provider’s experience of managing this aspect of QA, what resources or instances of good practice they could share with practitioners and which stakeholders were involved in this adaptation. The interviews asked about the measures that were undertaken to adapt QA processes in the pandemic period and what challenges could be reported from this adaptation. The report is divided into 11 chapters, with each chapter centred on a discussion of one Core Area of Quality as set out in the QQI Core QA Guidelines. An overview of the core area is developed, followed by a commentary on common experiences of the group in this area. Most sections conclude with resources, volunteered by member colleges of HECA, that was rated as useful in how the cohort navigated the management of QA in this core area.