The document discusses the quality assurance of dual and joint qualifications involving more than one degree-awarding body. It outlines two categories of such qualifications - joint/double/multiple degrees which require students to fulfill requirements of all bodies, and dual degrees which result in independent awards. It then details the University of Hertfordshire's approaches to assuring quality in areas like program approval, regulations, assessment, examination boards and certification for its dual and joint awards. Benefits of such awards include internationalization, competitiveness, cultural enrichment and research collaboration.

1. The quality assurance of Dual and Joint Qualifications
Dr Frank Haddleton, Director of Academic Quality Assurance
University of Hertfordshire
www.herts.ac.uk/

2. The Characteristics Statement
Qualifications Involving More Than One
Degree-Awarding Body
• Developed in response to demand from the
sector for guidance on dual and joint awards
• Aims to build a common understanding of these
qualifications and approaches to quality
assurance
• A formal component of Part A of the Quality
Code, which includes the Expectation that HE
providers 'consider and take account of QAA's
guidance on qualification characteristics' in order
to secure threshold academic standards.

3. The Characteristics Statement
What’s included?
• a qualification involving more than one degree-
awarding body, underpinned by a genuinely
joint enterprise and partnership between them
What’s not included?
• professional qualifications, titles or status, or
licence-to-practise aligned to a qualification
• articulation and progression arrangements
• A joint programme of study followed by separate
specialist routes, separate final qualifications
• franchise or validation arrangements

4. Category 1 – Joint, double or multiple degrees
1. Co-dependent, mutually contingent qualifications
• Students must fulfil the requirements of all degree-awarding bodies
• The final award(s) requires students to achieve a single set of criteria
• Joint programme design, development, programme management and
decision-making on student achievement
• Joint degrees: joint involvement in delivery and assessment.
Students gain a single certificate
• Double or multiple degrees: joint involvement in delivery and
assessment. Students are awarded two (or more) interdependent
awards. Certificate or transcript refers to the other award(s)
• Variant 2: delivery involves one partner more than another
• Variant 3: students undertake a programme with a greater volume of
study than that required for a single award

5. Category 2 – dual degrees
2. Integrated but independent qualifications
• Joint programme design, development, management and oversight
• Each DAB delivers a substantial proportion of the programme
• Two separate qualifications, possibly at different levels
• Awards are not interdependent (students achieve separate outcomes)
• Variant 1: joint initial curriculum, followed by two consecutive blocks
at each partner. The overall study period and volume of learning is
longer than for either of the individual awards separately
• Variant 2: two programmes with overlapping curricula, completed
consecutively rather than an initial joint element (articulation?)
• Variant 3: a student could gain one award but not the other due to
additional requirements to gain the qualification of the non-UK degree-
awarding body (eg. national or cultural requirements).

6. Approaches to quality assurance
• Academic oversight (Expectation A2.1)
• Academic regulations (Expectation A2.1)
• Programme approval (Expectation A3.1)
• Assessment (Expectation A3.2)
• Examination board (Expectation A3.2)
• External examining (Expectation A3.4)
• Monitoring and review (Expectation A3.3)
• Certification and transcripts (Expectation A2.2)

7. The University of Hertfordshire (UH)
Our key strategic objectives
We will be internationally renowned as the
UK's leading business-facing university by:
• Offering workplace engagement and
overseas learning opportunities
• Developing students’ social and global
awareness
• Fostering and strengthening research
with global partners
• Developing international partnerships
• Strengthening the global perspective in the curriculum
• Developing students with the knowledge, skills and attributes to
succeed in business and the professions
• ………..

8. Dual and Joint Awards at UH
Joint Awards
• MSc in Pharmacovigilance and Pharmacoepidemiology (EU2P
Consortium)
Dual Awards
• MSc Global Business (IBSA Alliance)
• MSc International Business (Vancouver Island University)
• BA International Management (TABSA Alliance)
• BA Accountancy (INTI International University)
• BA Business (INTI International University)
• BA Financial Planning (INTI International University)
• BA Mass Media and Communications (INTI International University)
• MA Management Studies (INTI International University)

9. The Eu2P Consortium
• The Eu2P consortium:
- 15 pharmaceutical
companies
- European medicines
agency & French
medicines agency
- 6 Universities
• Combines study with all
6 Universities (in
English) over 2 years
• Award: MSc in
Pharmacovigilance &
Pharmacoepidemiology
SWEDEN
Karolinska Institute
GERMANY
Bayer Healthcare
Boehringer
Ingelheim
DENMARK
Lundbeck
NovoNordisk
ITALY
University
of Verona
SPAIN
Catalan Institute of Pharmacology
Laboratories Almirali
UNITED KINGDOM
European Medicines
Agency
University of
Hertfordshire
Astra Zeneca
Eli Lilly
Glaxo Smith Kline
SWITZERLAND
Novartis Pharma
FRANCE
University Bordeaux Segalen
ANSM
Roche
Sanofi Aventis
BELGIUM
Amgen
Janssen Pharmaceutica
UCB Pharma
NETHERLANDS
University Erasmus
Medical Center
University of Utrecht
FINLAND
Orion Corporation

10. The International Business School Alliance (IBSA)
• An Alliance with 5 universities:
- Hochschule Bremen, Germany
- University of Valencia, Spain
- University of North Carolina, USA
- Novancia Business School, France
- Institute of Business Studies, Russia
• Established in 2003, to develop a Business Master’s
programme by combining study in any two Universities
(in English) over 1 year
• Leads to the award of two Master’s degrees
• UH award: MSc Global Business

11. Responsibility for academic standards
QAA Quality Code Chapter B10, Indicator 11:
Degree-awarding bodies are responsible for the
academic standards of all credit and qualifications
granted in their name. This responsibility is never
delegated. Therefore, degree-awarding bodies ensure
that the standards of any of their awards involving
learning opportunities delivered by others are
equivalent to the standards set for other awards that
they confer at the same level. They are also
consistent with UK national requirements
So how do you take responsibility for academic standards of the elements
of dual and joint awards delivered by partners? (especially when you
operate a two-tier examination board system)

12. Partner approval process
Enhanced Partner approval visit (School +
Centre for Academic Quality Assurance)
PVC (International) (approval in principle)
Academic School proposal
Academic Development Committee
(School proposal + due diligence)
Memorandum of Agreement
signed by VC
Financial
Audit
(Finance)
Institutional Audit (Academic Registry)Academic
Services
(due diligence)
Programme approval

13. Enhanced partner approval
Purpose: to satisfy UH that the management of contributory elements of
the programme delivered by that partner meets the expectations of the
UK Quality Code, so allowing academic standards to be safeguarded.
The enhanced partner approval visit should:
• identify national expectations of academic standards (and equivalence
to FHEQ or FQ-EHEA);
• establish legal and regulatory capacity to grant joint awards;
• review academic regulations, and their equivalence to UH regulations;
• propose a grade equivalency between UH and the partner;
• agree protocols for dealing with academic misconduct, complaints and
appeals, establish student rights & responsibilities at each institution;
• agree protocols for programme administration and management

14. Programme approval (Expectation A3.1)
Standard programme initial approval, development and validation
processes are used, with the exception that:
• Enhanced partners approval status means that they are not required to
‘prove’ that they can deliver the curriculum
• Enhanced partners therefore only take part in the validation process to
approve the standard and coherency of the curriculum
• With consortia of Universities, only the lead University would be
required to attend the validation event
• For joint awards, academic regulations are also considered (typically
Academic Board approval is subsequently required)
NB. Joint development is essential, but joint approval is difficult, as many
countries do not have suitable approval processes in place

15. • University of Bordeaux - Eu2P lead
institution
• Joint Eu2P Education Board
• Joint Standard Operating Procedures
• International Business School Alliance
annual meeting
• Each degree awarding body oversees its
own qualification
• UH policies and procedures
Academic oversight (Expectation A2.1)

16. • Eu2P bespoke Joint Academic
Regulations (UPR AS22)
• IBSA – UH academic regulations
• No award ‘with commendation’ or
‘with distinction’
Academic regulations (Expectation A2.1)

17. • Eu2P Education Board – holistic view
of assessment strategy
• Each Eu2P partner is responsible for
the assessment of the module(s) it
delivers
• Grade equivalency table
• Programme external examiner
reviews a sample of work across
partner organisations
• UH responsible for overall
assessment strategy
• Each IBSA partner is responsible for
the assessment of the module(s) it
delivers
• Grade equivalency table
• Retrospective assessment review
using a portfolio approach
Assessment (Expectation A3.2)

18. • UH approach (dual awards):
– External examiner appointed to all
UH-delivered modules and UH
awards
– External examiner maintains an
oversight of partner-delivered
modules, through reviews of sample
portfolios of assessed student work
• UH approach (joint awards):
– External examiner appointed to take
responsibility for all modules and the
joint award
International
Logistics and
Supply Chain
Management
Management in
Emerging
Economies
International
Business
Development and
Consulting
International
Finance and
Investments
International
Marketing
External Examiners (Expectation A3.4)

19. • Approach depends upon your examination board system:
– Integrated system? (i.e. grade/progression/award Boards)
– Two-tier system? (i.e. Module Boards & Programme Boards)
• UH approach (dual awards):
– UH regs for UH-delivered modules
– Partner’s regs for partner-delivered modules (assurance provided through
enhanced partner approval and grade equivalency)
– Separate UH and Partner programme boards for awards
• UH approach (joint awards):
– Joint regulations for all modules (assurance provided through enhanced partner
approval and UH approval of joint regulations)
– Joint Programme Board for awards
Examination Board (Expectation A3.2)

20. Joint strategic/operational board with enhanced
partners - Eu2P Education Board
Standard UH AQ processes apply:
• Programme committee (or equivalent)
• Link tutors/Country Liaison Tutors
• Programme Annual Monitoring and Evaluation Reports
• Re-validation at least every 6 years
Reports submitted through each partners own QA
framework
Monitoring and review (Expectation A3.3)

21. For Joint awards:
• UH approval of joint certificate
• Co-ordinating joint award institution takes responsibility for issuing
certificates and transcripts
• Enhanced Diploma Supplement
For Dual awards:
• Separate certificates
• UH enhanced transcript identifies:
– location(s) of delivery
– language(s) of delivery and assessment, by module
– All modules (including those studied at partner organisations)
– dual award status, and other awarding institutions
Certification and Transcripts (Expectation A2.2)

22. Internationalisation
agenda
Competitiveness
and
employability
Cultural
enrichment
New
ways of
thinking
Student
mobility
Professional
development
opportunities
Research
collaboration
Benefits of Dual and Joint Awards

23. Thank you
Dr Frank Haddleton
Director of Academic Quality Assurance
F.Haddleton@herts.ac.uk
Centre for Academic Quality Assurance
University of Hertfordshire