BPS UNDERGRADUATE ACCREDITATION PROCESS

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BPS UNDERGRADUATE ACCREDITATION PROCESS

• Dr Ruth Green
• Chair- Graduate Qualifications Accreditation
  Committee

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Why accredit UG courses?

• Defines core curriculum to ensure preparedness
  for professional training
• Ensures delivery of curriculum by qualified
  psychologists, to adequate standards, and with
  adequate resources
• Protects against erosion of resources this
  has been crucial since replacement of HEFCE Band
  B/D by Band C funding

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Principles of Accreditation

• Need to demonstrate compliance with criteria
  related to both curriculum and resources
• Reference for curriculum is currently BPS
  Qualifying Examination
• Review is by representative group of peers (GQAC)
• Process works through mixture of written
  submissions and visits

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Criteria for Curriculum

• 50 overall and at Honours Level (Years 2 3, or
  Years 3 4 in Scotland) must be Psychology.
  Years 2 3 must not fall below 33
• 7 core areas at Honours Level
• Cognitive Psychology Psychobiology Social
  Psychology Individual Differences Developmental
  Psychology Research Design and Quantitative
  Methods Conceptual and Historical Issues
• All but CHIP must be assessed at Honours level
  CHIP can be demonstrated across the curriculum
• Must be a Practical Component (usually final year
  project) which must be passed

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Criteria for Physical Resources

• Dedicated laboratory facilities for practical
  work and IT
• Library access minimum 2000 books and 30
  journals
• Access to electronic databases
• Staff based on one site

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Criteria for Staffing

• Academic Staff
• Minimum 5 fte
• Maximum SSR 120
• Staff suitably qualified in psychology
• 80 programme delivered by permanent staff
• 2 external examiners
• Other Staff
• Minimum 2 fte admin/clerical and 1fte technical
  I fte of each dedicated to Psychology

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Starting up a New Course

• Approach BPS for advice
• Submit information on standard forms to GQAC
• Reviewers submit reports to GQAC
• Accreditation Visit
• Meet any conditions accredited for up to 5
  years

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Process for Existing Courses

• Re-accreditation every 5 years by paper visit
  every 10 years
• Resource Review mid-cycle
• Additional submissions for changes and new awards
• N.B GQAC will not consider new awards if there
  are outstanding resource issues on existing awards

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Quality Assurance

• GQAC membership is representative wrt academic
  expertise, type of institution, location
• Reviewers are independent of the programmes they
  review and declare conflicts of interest
• New reviewers are paired with experienced
  reviewers, and on visits first act as observers
  rather than full panel members
• Reviewers on visits work to agreed guidelines and
  protocols to ensure a consistent approach, and a
  professional and collegiate atmosphere

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Recent Amendments to Practice

• Explicit reference now made to the need to cover
  qualitative methods
• Minimum pass for eligibility for GBR is a lower
  second, or 50 for conversion courses
• Allow full text e-journals as an alternative to
  hard copy
• From 2006/7 students must be issued with
  transcript showing modules studied

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Calculating SSR Key Issues

• Include ftes for all students studying
  psychology modules, whatever their award
• Include Pg taught and research ftes
• Include all staff ftes delivering to psychology
  modules/awards, normally staff contracted
  permanently to Psychology plus proportions of
  staff from outside
• Calculate ftes for casual pt staff/TAs on the
  basis of 1FTE 550 hours, or contract

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Calculating SSR Key Issues

• Avoid double counting e.g. sabbatical or
  maternity leave when cover bought in
• Be consistent in using figures for staffing and
  student numbers from the same academic year
  present snapshot picture, dont project forward
  (unless new award)
• Remember staff vacancies do not count in
  calculation and will need to be confirmed on
  appointment

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Changes in Revised P P (September, 2008)

• Improved clarity, organisation and transparency
• P P aligned closely with structure of
  Questionnaires
• All guidelines for completing Questionnaire
  removed from Q itself and put in P P
• GBR Curriculum, not QE
• Old BPS Honours definition removed, now aligned
  to FHEQ coverage for GBR Curriculum must be at
  Levels I and H

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Changes in Revised P P (September, 2008)

• Explicit referencing back to QAA Psychology
  Benchmark Statement for curriculum and
  subject-based skills
• More emphasis on accepting staffing based on
  contract rather than absolute contribution
• Option to omit autonomous groups of staff and
  students from SSR calculations
• Entry to Conversion awards with first degree
  honours degree no longer specified

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Changes in Revised P P (September, 2008)

• Large student numbers (c.400fte) trigger review
  of need to provide more than minimum on threshold
  criteria e.g. external examiners, physical
  resources
• Section of additional questions for E-learning
  awards or significant use of E-learning
• Psychobiology ?Biological Psychology
• Clarification of 20 rule maximum 20 of
  staffing fte can be pt (not 20 programme
  delivered by)

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Changes to Criteria

• Minimum requirement on journal holdings increases
  from 30 to 50 (reflects increase in e-journal
  holdings)
• Required to demonstrate ethics approval for
  project work etc (reflects revised QAA Benchmark
  Statement)
• Practical component i.e. project or its
  equivalent, must be at H level

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Clarification wrt Documentation

• 3 copies of everything
• GQAC Questionnaires dont need to repeat all
  parts if more than one award
• Brief overview and evaluation of programme
  developments and changes
• External Examiners reports for last 3 years
• All module outlines
• Most recent exam papers and other assessment
  tasks for Core GBR modules
• Staff CVs (new for reviews, all for new
  submissions)
• Programme Spec. or Student Handbook