QAA completes Quality Code guidance for student feedback and evaluation

Updated Sep 24, 2026

QAA Quality Code guidance now covers the full set of principles, following the agency's 23 September 2026 announcement. The completed collection includes advice on using data and evaluating provision. For teams handling student feedback, it offers a practical reference for reviewing how comments inform decisions, how students participate and how an institution checks the effects of its response.

What the QAA Quality Code guidance adds

QAA announced nine further Advice & Guidance collections, completing support for the Quality Code published in June 2024. The first three collections appeared in summer 2025, including the advice on engaging students as partners. The announcement concerns supporting advice for the existing Code.

The Principle 4 guidance on using data brings qualitative and quantitative evidence together. It addresses clear data responsibilities, explaining data use to students and staff, and training people who analyse it. It also covers policies for third-party tools, including generative AI. For survey teams, that makes the handling and interpretation of comments part of the quality discussion.

The Principle 5 guidance on monitoring and evaluation connects evidence with action and subsequent review. It describes supporting students to interpret evidence, communicating decisions accessibly and evaluating changes after implementation. Reporting that an action happened and assessing its effects are separate tasks.

What this means for institutions

Keep the status of the advice clear. QAA says its Advice and Guidance is non-mandatory and will not be treated as compliance indicators by QAA or national regulators. The Code provides a UK-wide reference point, but its regulatory use differs between nations. QAA's national-context guidance says England has no regulatory requirement to use the Code unless a provider is subject to Educational Oversight Review. Teams should check the framework applicable to their institution before describing an internal review as a regulatory obligation.

Our suggestion is to work through a recent feedback cycle with student representatives. Trace an issue from the original question and comments to the discussion, decision and response. Ask which perspectives were missing and whether students can understand the explanation. The distinction between feedback, representation and partnership is useful here: submitting a comment and helping decide what happens next involve different roles.

Agree how a proposed change will be assessed before putting it into practice. For example, after comments about confusing assessment instructions, a team could revise a brief with students and check whether a later group can explain the task. This is an illustrative evaluation approach, not a QAA-prescribed test. Record the context and remaining uncertainty alongside the result.

How student feedback analysis connects

The data guidance explicitly includes student voice among the qualitative evidence used to understand different student experiences. For an open-text analysis, our recommendation is to document the survey population, collection period, coding method and comments excluded from analysis. Check ambiguous interpretations with authorised reviewers and retain evidence that challenges the dominant theme. Our open-text analysis methodology explains why comment patterns cannot automatically be read as the experience of every student.

Keep the next decision visible in the analysis report: who will consider the finding, what further evidence they need and when they will review the response. Use the student comment analysis governance checklist to document access, quality checks and reporting limits. These are practical suggestions for applying the guidance; a completed report alone does not demonstrate that an intervention improved the student experience.

FAQ

Q: What should quality and Student Experience teams do now?

A: Review an existing feedback cycle with students, identify gaps in interpretation or follow-up, and agree a focused improvement to evaluate. Start with the evidence already available before commissioning another survey.

Q: When does this guidance take effect, and who is it for?

A: QAA announced the completed collection on 23 September 2026. It supports the UK Quality Code, but the advice is non-mandatory and has no new sector-wide compliance deadline. Check the Code's national context and your institution's review arrangements separately.

Q: Does analysing student comments fulfil the guidance on participation?

A: Comment analysis can inform a review. Principle 5 also describes training and support so students can interpret evidence and contribute meaningfully to evaluation. Plan their role in discussing findings and reviewing the response, as well as their opportunity to give feedback.

References

[Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education]: "QAA completes publication of Quality Code Advice & Guidance" Published: 2026-09-23

[Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education]: "Quality Code Advice and Guidance - Principle 4" Publication date displayed for the accompanying resource: 2026-09-21; collection announced: 2026-09-23

[Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education]: "Quality Code Advice and Guidance - Principle 5" Publication date displayed for the accompanying resource: 2026-09-21; collection announced: 2026-09-23

[Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education]: "Advice and Guidance 2024" Publication date not stated; checked: 2026-09-24

[Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education]: "UK Quality Code for Higher Education 2024" Code published: 2024-06-27; current webpage checked: 2026-09-24