Teaching Excellence Framework
The University responds to the Teaching Excellence Framework.
Along with a significant number of other Scottish universities, the University of Edinburgh has taken the decision not to participate in the forthcoming Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), the UK government initiative which is attempting to measure the quality of teaching and learning in Higher Education institutions.
Providing a top quality learning and teaching experience is something which the University values extremely highly. In Scotland we are fortunate to have the tried and tested Quality Enhancement Framework in place which plays a very effective role in monitoring the quality of teaching in our universities.
Only last year the University performed very strongly in the Enhancement-Led Institutional Review (ELIR) run by the Quality Assurance Agency, which appraises the quality of the student learning experience institution-wide. The experience which the University offers was highly praised as were some of the unique initiatives it has implemented to ensure that it provides an excellent learning and teaching experience.
In common with many other leading Higher Education Institutes in Scotland, we therefore feel that the sophisticated quality systems currently in place better suit the Scottish context than TEF - particularly bearing in mind the important matter of the Scottish-four year degree, which differentiates us from the rest of the UK.
Consequently, the University has agreed that it will not take part in TEF at this stage and will focus time and resources elsewhere, particularly on areas of strategic importance such as our efforts in widening access to the University to a broader range of prospective students.
Professor Charlie Jeffery, Senior Vice-Principal