QAA's Strathclyde TQER report, and what it means for student feedback on assessment timeliness

Updated Sep 07, 2026

QAA published its Strathclyde Tertiary Quality Enhancement Review announcement on 5 March 2026. It reported an effective judgement for managing standards, enhancing the learning experience and enabling student success, alongside four areas of good practice and five recommendations. This review sits within Scotland’s quality-enhancement framework. QAA announcement.

The findings relevant to feedback

Review visits took place on 22–23 October and 1–4 December 2025, with five reviewers including a student reviewer. QAA praised how student voice was heard across groups and connected with action.

The recommendations concerned:

• Periodic review of professional services.
• Institution-wide compliance with the assessment-feedback timeliness policy.
• Oversight of the postgraduate research experience.
• A consistent approach to pastoral support, development and academic advising.
• Review of policy differences across faculties where they risk inconsistent quality or standards.

The timeliness recommendation sits alongside a positive overall judgement. It should not be represented as a finding that the institution was generally ineffective. Review judgement, good practice and recommendations.

A practical check of feedback delivery

Our suggestion is to compare an assessment-feedback policy with both return-date records and students’ accounts. Meeting a deadline and providing usable feedback are different questions; a review should say which one it is investigating.

Where comments identify delays, check the affected assessment and cohort before generalising. Decide who will review the issue, what action is possible and how students can contribute to evaluating the response. A change in comments may prompt further investigation without proving which action caused it.

The comment governance checklist offers a starting point for documenting those decisions. These are suggested local practices, not extra recommendations attributed to the Strathclyde review.

Correction, 7 September 2026: removed unsupported claims about a 2024 merger, Students’ Union sustainability and induction, which are not the recommendations listed in QAA’s announcement. Also removed an action-plan deadline we could not verify. The summary now uses the announcement’s actual recommendations and retains its positive overall judgement.