Programme specification and its role in promoting an outcomes model of learning

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Abstract
Programme specifications will have an important influence on academic practice in UK higher education. They will provide concise summary descriptions of the educational learning outcomes of programmes. They are intended to promote and support a systematic process of critical reflection on the curriculum and the means by which the desired outcomes are achieved and demonstrated. They will provide a foundation for the public assurance of academic standards in universities and colleges and will provide the initial point of contact between an institution’s evaluative and assurance processes and the new peer review process of academic review. They will show how programmes and awards relate to the HE qualifications framework now being developed by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. This article tries to explain some of the thinking that underlies policy so that those responsible for implementing it will have a better understanding of what it is trying to do and why it has been shaped in the way it has.