Teaching Excellence Framework and the Library

The first results of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) have been announced today. The TEF is one of the flagship proposals which was introduced as part of the Higher Education and Research Bill in 2016 “to recognise and reward excellent learning and teaching.” The TEF assessment utilises National Student Survey (NSS) data to inform the award, specifically around Teaching, Assessment and Feedback and Academic support. The NSS questions on Learning Resources are not part of the dataset which is considered, although qualitative information can also be entered in the university’s submission.

UCL participated in this inaugural year of the TEF and has been awarded a Silver award, which means that “provision is of high quality, and significantly and consistently exceeds the baseline quality threshold expected of UK Higher Education.” This reflects the commitment of UCL’s community to providing an excellent teaching and learning experience, and particularly the distinctive nature of teaching at UCL which is based on the outstanding research which happens across the university, as set out in the Connected Curriculum. The award also acknowledges that there are some areas where we know that we can do better as an institution. The Office of the Vice-Provost (Education & Student Affairs) has been focusing in particular on tackling weaknesses in assessment and feedback and academic support, based on our NSS scores.

The TEF panel identified four specific points which supported its decision to award Silver to UCL, and I would like to highlight that the fourth of these was “the availability of a wide array of exceptional learning resources, both physical and digital.” This refers to the provision by Library Services, and we should all feel congratulated for contributing, in a significant way, to UCL’s achievement in the TEF this year. As I note above, NSS data referring to library services is not automatically considered as part of the assessment process, so the fact that this is included so prominently is a wonderful reflection of the strength of our collections and services.

More details about the TEF, including UCL’s 2017 narrative submission, and the UCL Education Strategy 2016-21 are available at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/teaching-excellence-framework-tef

You can also find out more about the Connected Curriculum as UCL Press has just published the new book by Dilly Fung, Academic Director of the Arena Centre for Research-Based Education at UCL: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press/ucl-press-news/new-book-a-connected-curriculum-for-higher-education