Guidance on Annual Monitoring

Prescribed qualifications are subject to annual monitoring under the Standard Conditions of prescription.

All annual monitoring should be submitted to Qualifications@arb.org.uk.

The following guidance is not exhaustive. Please refer to the associated pages and documents linked to below for more details.

Submission date

When applying for prescription, institutions choose an annual monitoring submission date; and, once prescribed, each institution is responsible for making submissions on time (on or before the agreed date) every year.

Late or incomplete submissions affect ARB’s confidence in an institution and its qualifications, and may bring forward reviews in future.

Content

Details of the information that must be submitted for annual monitoring can be found in Appendix 2 of the Procedures for the Prescription of Qualifications (the Procedures) and in the Annual Monitoring Form, which must be completed and included with each submission.

The material expected includes the following:

1. External examiners’ reports for each prescribed qualification, and the institution’s response(s) to those reports;*
2. Reports of external bodies/reviews, and the institution’s response(s);
3. Reports from internal reviews, including student feedback;
4. Student/candidate progression information, including numbers of students/candidates in each cohort for each prescribed qualification, and pass/failure rates (with an explanatory commentary where necessary) – use the Student Data Template;**
5. An updated staff list of all involved in the delivery of the prescribed qualification(s) – use the Staff List Template;
6. Details of any changes to resources (staff, space, facilities, IT etc) in the last year;
7. Details of any changes to the title and/or content of a prescribed qualification made since the institution’s last submission (see below), with the rationale for those changes; and
8. Any other information indicating that any condition of prescription may not have been met in some material respect.

* Within their annual reports (or in an accompanying statement), all external examiners are expected to explicitly confirm (based on the sample seen) whether all graduates receiving the qualification had met all of ARB’s Criteria at the relevant level.

** The introduction of the new Standards for Learning Providers (the Standards) means some changes to the student data gathered annually. Data must be supplied in ARB’s Student Data Template – please complete the various worksheets/tabs in the document for Student Numbers and SSR, Progression, and EDI (guidance provided on each worksheet).

The Annual Monitoring Form additionally asks the institution to report on the implementation of ARB’s guidance on fire and life safety design, and environmental sustainability.

From September 2022 onwards, all prescription applications and annual monitoring submissions must include the appropriate Part 1 mapping / Part 2 mapping / Part 3 form completed for each qualification. This is in addition to the documentation mentioned above.

Changes to qualifications

The Standard Conditions of prescription require institutions to notify ARB of any changes affecting a prescribed qualification.

Under the new Accreditation Rules, from January 2024 any changes to prescribed qualifications must be approved by ARB before they are implemented.

Changes that must be notified include changes to the content, title, delivery, and awarding body of a prescribed qualification.

Please contact ARB at Qualifications@arb.org.uk to discuss any changes, the notification and approval process, and the information that must be submitted.