Internal Unit Quality Reviews

Practical Experiences of an Irish University

In this article, we consider the practical experiences and lessons learned in relation to internal quality review activity at the University of Limerick over the past 20 years. Internal reviews in Irish universities are framed by national legislation and international good practice, and process development is tailored to suit an institution’s mission, needs and organisational structure. The article focuses on the main characteristics of the review process and evidence-based enhancements we have introduced. Enhancements include placing a greater emphasis on the post-review implementation of quality improvement plans to maximise impact at institutional level and facilitate institutional change; placing a greater emphasis on the use of top international reviewers, which also helps to drive the institution’sinternationalisation agenda; streamlining the university’s bespoke quality management system (QMS); and tailoring individual unit review guidelines to maximise the benefit of each review and encourage units to buy in to the process. We hope that quality assurance practitioners and managers within the sector will find the article to be of use in terms of comparing their approach to ours and triggering a critical analysis of both approaches with a view to enhancing the overall process.