Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education

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The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) was established in 1997 to provide an integrated quality assurance service for United Kingdom higher education.

The creation of QAA was a culmination of a decade's worth of reform in the quality assurance of UK higher education. Eventually it was the work of the Joint Planning Group for Quality Assurance in Higher Education that suggested bringing together the two streams of quality assurance - subject review and institutional audit - into one body for the first time.

QAA's first chief executive was John Randall. He served from 1997 to 2001 when he resigned. His shoes were filled, first on an interim basis then permanently, by Peter Williams who moved up from the post of Director of Institutional Review.

The main activities of the QAA are to ensure the quality of education delivered in UK Universities and other institutions of Higher Education. This is done at a subject level, and also at an institutional level, using periodic reviews. These reviews involve the production of self-evaluation documents by the institutions, and audit visits of the institution by QAA auditors.

QAA is a member of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA).