UCAS request for subject specialists to review qualifications

The Higher Education Academy has been approached by Richard Spencer of UCAS, who asks that the subject centres inform their subject communities of a request for assistance.  The details of the letter are below: please contact Richard directly if you are interested in getting involved: 

Dear colleagues

I am writing to ask your assistance.

I have responsibility for the development of the UCAS Tariff, including the management of the process of bringing new qualifications into the UCAS Tariff and reviewing qualifications already in the system. Any qualification seeking entry into the Tariff is considered against an appropriate benchmark qualification and, given the demands of conducting comparability studies, it is recognised that such work requires collaborative input and judgement from members of a panel of experts, including subject specialists from higher education.

We are currently seeking to widen the pool of HE subject-specialists to call upon to work with UCAS on comparability studies and wondered whether, given that HEA provides subject-specific support for 25 sector areas, you might be able to help find additional specialists. I would be happy to provide additional information about the Tariff process as necessary, but in the meantime, I summarise the key points below:

·        Experienced HE specialists are needed for all subject areas to join a pool of experts

·        All names sent to UCAS will be considered as expressions of interest at this stage and will not guarantee work.

·        We will contact interested individuals as and when/ if their subject specialism is required with a summary of timescales.

·        If more than the required number of subject specialists express interest, UCAS reserves the right to prioritise upon merit based on their knowledge and previous experience

·        UCAS will enter into formal contracts with subject specialists for work on specific qualifications, for the period of the Tariff “project”

·        Subject specialists will need to undertake a set of tasks relating to the incoming and benchmark qualification and outline their findings to an Expert Panel

·        It is anticipated that each Tariff “project” will require approximately 3 days input (non-consecutive) – of which one day will be at UCAS offices in Cheltenham

·        Subject specialists will be recruited as a representative of their employing university/college, which must offer a suitable range of HE courses in appropriate subjects.

·        A flat fee of £1,000 will be paid to the employing institution upon completion of the work

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

Richard

RICHARD SPENCER

POLICY OFFICER

POLICY AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS UNIT

POLICY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT

UCAS

tel:       01242 544862

email:      r.spencer@ucas.ac.uk