§ 25. Dr. GibsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he is taking to improve teaching standards in higher education. [119649]
§ Mr. WicksThe Quality Assurance Agency carries out subject reviews of provision in departments of higher education institutions. These include an assessment of the quality of teaching and the learning experience of the student. In addition, to reinforce the quality of teaching, the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education has been set up. Its purpose is to:
- enhance the status of teaching in higher education;
- maintain and improve the quality of learning and teaching in higher education;
- set standards of good professional practice that its members, and in due course all those with learning and teaching responsibilities, might follow.
In July 2000, my noble Friend the Minister for Education and Employment in the Lords will award 20 ILT National Teaching Fellowships of £50,000 each. The awards will recognise and reward individual academics who have demonstrated excellence in teaching and support for learning.