Postgraduate standard?

Moi2008

In order to keep a standard between all universities, is there a particular standard or management board for criteria of judgement for postgrads dissertation/thesis grading? and the expectations to be reached, that is agreed by all universities?

AARRRGH

Universities use "outside examiners" who follow some kind of standard judging system.

Also the courses are checked by HETAC (or something) as well.

Basically things should be fairly consistent.

Tom Dunne

All third level institutions use external examiners.

I cant speak for the universities, but IT's have their courses vetted by HETAC, which is an independent body.

However, a lot of IT's now have delegated authority which basically means HETAC trusts them to award their own qualifications.
So in general, they should all be of a similar standard.

Vikinghar

Moi2008 wrote: »

In order to keep a standard between all universities, is there a particular standard or management board for criteria of judgement for postgrads dissertation/thesis grading? and the expectations to be reached, that is agreed by all universities?

I have been involved in the development of Quality Assurance standards for a charity wishing to be approved by HETAC. One of the main tennants of HETAC, for us, was the inclusion of external academics from the IT and University sector. This was important to maintain a high standard of objective input and to prevent subversion of academic integrity. Also, HETAC will draw upon those same academics to act on their behalf when a programme of higher education is submitted for validation. So, to answer your question, HETAC has created and maintains a culture of quality in Higher Education through peer review, accountablity and transparency.

H2G2

All universities have a document which describes the standard which research thesis (MSc or PhD) should attain. However, these are usually reasonably high level statements, criteria, etc.
External examiners are the main system by which external quality assurance procedures are implemented. BUT… there is a huge variation in external examiners. Some are ‘easy’ and some are ‘hard’. There are also questions over the appointment of external examiners… while a particular institution appoints the exten, it is usually the supervisor who suggests the name(s), so there are open issues there.
As I understand it, the Irish Universities Quality Board www.iuqb.ie is looking at revising guidelines which may be adopted by all universities in this area… about time IMNO.