City of Bristol College is celebrating after the publication of a report, produced by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), which concluded that it had “confidence in the College’s management of its higher education provision”.

The report, produced as part of an ‘Integrated Quality and Enhancement Review’ (IQER), was compiled after the IQER team spoke to staff and students during a scheduled visited to the College in June.

Core themes of the report

The purpose of the IQER report is to safeguard the public interest in the academic standards and quality of higher education delivered in colleges. It focuses on three core themes: academic standards, quality of learning opportunities and public information.

The report’s findings highlight a number of areas of good practice, including the College’s clear and comprehensive quality assurance processes and its open and constructive dialogue with its partner universities. The College is also commended in the report for the way it “engages employers in the design, assessment and review of Foundation Degree programmes, offering impressive support to students through mentoring and placement supervision.”

The report also states: “The College has enthusiastically embraced the opportunities provided by Foundation Degrees and responded to the needs of local employers over the last five years, engaging with a wide range of sectors.”

Successful university centre

The College’s University Centre at Ashley Down was established in 2008 as a dedicated space for study at Level 4 and above. The higher education programmes provided by the College are offered in partnership with Bath Spa University, Kingston University and the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Plymouth and the University of the West of England.

Jane Wills, Head of Higher Education, Access and Progression at City of Bristol College, comments: “We are delighted with the outcome of the IQER team’s visit. The outstanding work of our staff, who have been supported by our many hundreds of enthusiastic learners, has been vital in ensuring the success of our University Centre.”

She continues: “By utilising our strong partnerships with leading universities and awarding bodies, we have made significant contributions to the delivery of higher education in the city. Such contributions benefit not only our learners by helping them to develop higher level skills, but also the local economy.

“Learners are attracted by our excellent facilities and resources; they also like the fact that we are smaller and less expensive than a university, and that there is flexibility to study full- or part-time. The support and high quality education we provide to our learners and employers enables people and businesses to succeed. We are very pleased that our efforts in higher education have been recognised in this report.”