Teaching quality performance indicators – key influences on the UK universities’ scores

Abstract

When the first full round of teaching quality assessments (TQAs) was completed by the UK funding councils, the older universities had gained the largest percentage of the higher grades of assessment, while the new universities had the highest share of the lower grades. This pattern repeated itself, with minor variations, during later assessments. Utilising data from the Times Higher Education Supplement league tables for all UK universities (THES, 2000), covering the years 1993‐2000, this paper examines the relationship between TQA results, reputational factors, and resourcing indicators. Concludes that league tables may be instrumental in perpetuating the divide between the old and new university sectors, by failing to acknowledge the diverse missions of the institutions. We suggest that it may be more useful to group universities by set criteria which would allow for more meaningful comparisons.