§ Mr. Andrew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) when he intends to close down the Council for National Academic Awards; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what steps he has taken to ensure that all those students registered with the Council for National Academic Awards will be transferred to other degree awarding bodies by the date of closure of the Council for National Academic Awards without any change in conditions or fees payable by the student;
(3) how he will ensure that a national network of peer review is maintained after the abolition of the Council for National Academic Awards.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthMy right hon. and learned Friend announced on 16 December 1991,Official Report, column 31, that the dissolution of the Council for National Academic Awards was likely to be at the end of March 1993. That remains the position. He also referred to the importance of arrangements being made for students to be able to continue on the course of study for which they enrolled, in the institution at which they enrolled and with the expectation of receiving a degree or other award at the end of that course of similar standing to the CNAA degree or award for which they initially registered. We remain confident that new validation agreements will be in place by the beginning of the 1992–93 academic year. On 15 January the Department wrote to all higher education institutions making it clear that students who had already paid a validation fee to the CNAA should not be charged a further fee by a new validating institution.
The new quality assurance organisation being established collectively by the higher education institutions will be responsible for scrutinising institutions' quality control systems and validation agreements, and will take over some other activities of the CNAA. The way in which validation is carried out will be a matter for individual institutions, taking account of views expressed by the new organisation. As my right hon. and learned Friend's announcement on 16 December indicated, the Open university is intending to offer a validation service broadly on existing CNAA lines.