Although each university approves its own courses, individual courses that lead to a professional or vocational qualification, or exemption from a professional examination, are usually accredited by a professional, statutory or regulatory body (PSRBs). For example, the General Medical Council (opens in new window) (GMC) accredits courses in Medicine as does the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) (opens in new window) for various engineering courses. A recent HEFCE report Assessing the impact of reviews of collaborative arrangements on higher education institutions (opens in new window) estimated that there were more than 50 PSRBs operating in universities.
 
PSRBs are involved in the design, approval, monitoring and review of courses with some universities having arrangements for joint accreditation and/or validation events. Members of PSRBs and employer representatives may also be used as external assessors on approval panels.

The PSRB will provide the university with a report of its conclusions and the period of further accreditation awarded. Such reports will normally be considered at department, school, faculty and university level and the university will seek assurance that action is being taken to address any matters identified by the PSRB. 

Current work

The Higher Education Better Regulation Group (HEBRG) (opens in new window) have recently examined the longstanding challenges in defining PSRBs and how they work with HE, reviewing estimations measuring the impact of engagement with PSRBs and initiatives that have considered PSRBs within the larger framework of HE regulation. 

The four main outcomes of this work are:

•The report, 'Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies: An Exploration of their Engagement with Higher Education'

•An online database of more than 130 PSRBs engaging with HEIs, which includes information on their self-reported activities, relevant subject areas, and geographical remit.  This is a working resource to aid understanding of this area of HE regulation and will be updated to incorporate feedback from PSRBs and the HE sector.

•A two-stage contribution to and analysis of the sector-wide Survey of University Statutory and External Returns 2010. Early findings were presented at the HEBRG conference in December and a secod stage of follow-up work is underway.

•A plain-English explanatory statement on the involvement of PSRBs in UK HE commissioned by the Quality in Higher Education Group.  

If you have any questions or comments regarding the database of PSRBs please email info@hebetterregulation.ac.uk with the subject line PSRBs.