RGS: Accreditation of university geography programmes

Tuesday, 3 May, 2016

The RGS have announced accreditation of university geography programmes. This is all part of their strategy for professionalising geography and follows on from the Chartered Geographer status intended for individuals, to accreditation intended for programmes.

As they note… “Programmes are assessed in line with QAA subject benchmark statement for Geography, which defines what can be expected of a graduate in terms of the knowledge, understanding, skills and approaches they have gained.”

There is increasing accreditation across a range of programmes. This naturally began where there was an element of professional practice. Law, accounting, geology, surveying, pharmacy to name a few. As subjects and their representative bodies try to take stock of their relevance in an increasingly “busy” degree marketplace, accreditation can be seen as both a big draw and, dare I say it, a small money spinner! The Higher Education Academy, now weaned off soft government money in these austere times, has had to make itself both relevant and self-sustaining. It’s relevance comes from professional standards in teaching (the UK Professional Standards Framework) and so accreditation fees, both initial and ongoing, can account for income.

The application, unsurprisingly, requires programme specification, module outlines, programme guide, external examiner reports and programme reviews. All fairly normal stuff for programme operation. In addition there is a 2000-4000 words reflection on programme content/aims and (crucially) professional practice. Awareness of the QAA benchmark statement (which of course the RGS helped draft) is needed and a good rationale for how the program meets this. It would be nice though to get away from the “2000-4000 report” - surely in these times of teaching awareness (and the number of staff that are HEA Fellows) there must be another approach?? How about a 5-min VOD or PODcast? Mind map? Interactive slide deck? Wiki? Come on people, let’s get a little creative!

Once complete, this then goes forward to the accreditation panel comprised of other academics, an industry Chartered Geographer and “anyone else” deemed appropriate. It’ll be interesting to see what the take-up is like. I imagine there will be early-adopters, but the lack of student awareness and the fact that they don’t actually need an accredited programme for further employment might stunt this, at least initially. Which probably means academic advocates within the RGS pushing their own departments. It’s a similar story with the Chartered Geographer, although there is a growing groundswell with good interest from industry.

Add comment

Fill out the form below to add your own comments