Middlesex ranked second

In a new re-assessment of teaching quality in all English universities, Middlesex is ranked second highest in the country. The Times Higher Education Supplement (17 November 2006) reports on how the scores for each university, as marked by the Quality Assurance Agency, have been “adjusted to remove the link with research” and form a league table which has post-1992 universities performing strongly.

The re-assessment paper, entitled Recounting the Scores: An analysis of the QAA Subject Review Grades 1995-2001 was carried out by a team of Scotland-based academics led by Robert Raeside, director of research at Napier University. The result is that this is the first higher education league table that “adjusts Quality Assurance Agency teaching quality inspection scores to remove general ‘bias’ towards pre-1992 universities”. Raeside and his team argue that from 1995 to 2001 the numerical markings awarded to universities by QAA were not subject to any moderation for important factors such as size of student body, groups of subjects, year of assessment or type of institution (pre- or post-1992 university). Indeed, the new assessment has revealed concerns that previously “subject review had been successful at little more than measuring institutional wealth”.