skip to content

University of the West of Scotland


Centre for Academic and Professional Development

| Share

National Enhancement Themes

Scotland’s Quality Enhancement Framework (QEF) demonstrates the strong commitment of the higher education sector to the enhancement of the student learning experience. In particular the Enhancement Themes strand of the QEF provides a key resource for the sector as a whole, and for institutions, staff and students to share and learn from national and international research and practice and to develop new and imaginative ways to enhance the student learning experience.

What are the enhancement themes?

Outcomes
Evaluation of the Impact of the Enhancement Themes
Guide to the Outcomes of the Themes
Indicators of Enhancement

Current Themes
Graduates for the 21st Century
2006-2008
Research-Teaching Linkages
The First Year
Quality Cultures and Systems & Structures for Enhancement

2005-2006
Assessment [ Integrative Assessment ] 
First Year [ The First Year ]

2004-2005
Flexible Delivery [ PDF ] [ Flash ]
Employability [ PDF ] [ Flash ]

2003-2004
Assessment  [ PDF ]  [ Flash ]
Responding to Student Needs [ PDF ] [ Flash ]

Further information:

www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk

What is enhancement?

‘Enhancement is defined as taking deliberate steps to bring about continuous improvement in the effectiveness of the learning experience of students’ (Handbook for Enhancement-Led Institutional Review, Scotland QAA 2003). Taking deliberate steps implies a systematic and explicit process:

  • Knowing where you are now? How effective is your current learning experience of your students? How are you ‘measuring’ this?
  • Where do you want to be in the future? What are the patterns and mechanisms of supporting learning which the School and the University wishes to develop in order to achieve enhancement?
  • How are you going to know you have got there? How does the University, and your School, strategically manage the process of enhancement that allows you to meet your aspirations to enhance the learning experience?

Enhancement is not primarily about doing ‘more with less’ but about ‘being more effective’. In terms of learning and teaching practice, it is about a process which involves:

  • Monitoring the effectiveness of the learning experience and listening to (and acting upon feedback, as appropriate, from) the various stakeholders (in particular learners, but also staff delivering and supporting the learning, employers and other stakeholders)
  • It is about reflective practice, benchmarking against established effective practice elsewhere in your School and the University, and across the sector (hence the importance of the National Enhancement Themes)
  • A focus on the learner and the learning experience, recognizing the critical importance of context and purpose, with a commitment to systematic and continuous improvement.