HC Deb 11 December 2001 vol 376 cc821-2W
Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she is taking to(a) monitor and (b) improve the standard of teaching in universities. [22285]

Margaret Hodge

We are working closely with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) to ensure that revised systems are put in place to monitor and improve teaching quality which are not unnecessarily bureaucratic and costly. Proposals are currently out for consultation and we will look closely at the outcome of that process. In addition, we have requested that HEFCE produces, by July 2002, a strategic plan for enhancing teaching quality.