They visit the institution and then produce a report which includes an overall view of the strengths and weaknesses in the ways that quality and standards are set and maintained. Institutions are asked to report back, one year after the report is published, on the action they have taken to deal with any weaknesses that were identified. The principal purpose of this revised process is to offer an opinion on the extent to which individual institutions are discharging effectively their corporate responsibilities for the academic standards and quality of their awards and associated programmes of study. The process takes as its starting point the assumption that institutions have appropriate quality assurance policies and procedures in place, and also assumes that they can provide convincing evidence that these are working to good effect. The audit checks the extent to which this is the case and that the methods used are sufficiently reliable to continue to provide stakeholders with the necessary assurances for the future.
Audits also review courses provided in partnership with colleges in the UK or overseas.