Northbrook College HE provision commended

21 Feb 2008

Northbrook College Sussex was commended for its higher education provision in a recent report from the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) entitled "Learning from Academic review of higher education in further education colleges in England 2005-07".

Specifically the QAA report commended Northbrook College in three sections:

1. Assessment

" Formative assessments form a key part of most assessment strategies. In general, assessment practices promote effective learning. For example, the use of self-reflective accounts was a feature of good practice which gave students an opportunity to relate their assessments to their own experience [Northbrook College, Sussex: Dance, Drama and Performance Arts/Music, ]. "

2. Achievement 

" At the time of the reviews, the first cohorts of students had not yet completed their Foundation Degree programmes and so there was only limited achievement data for the reviewers to consider. Where the reviewers were able to comment, they made favourable statements on students' achievements, including, for example, highly complimentary comments on Foundation Degrees in Music and Performance Arts '.....music production and performance student work showed some sophisticated technical and creative achievement in the higher assessment bands - confirming the practical strengths in music production noted by external examiners' [Northbrook College, Sussex: Dance, Drama and Performing Arts/Music, SR01/2005]. "

3. Evaluation 

" The best self-evaluations produced by the colleges were accurate, self-critical and evaluative, identifying strengths and weaknesses and outlining the action proposed to rectify the latter [Northbrook College, Sussex: Dance, Drama and Performance Arts/Music, SR01/2005; ]. "

SLN supporting HE in FE

The provision of higher education level courses in further education colleges makes up a significant and growing proportion of HE provision, which is key to the development and sustainability of vocational higher educational provision in Sussex.  The SLN supports colleges in delivering HE by hosting the 'HE in FE' group, which meets quarterly to provide to a forum for discussion and collaboration.