Quality practices policy (EU)

1. General

1.1. The Quality Practices Policy (QPP) highlights several of policies which are subsidiary to the Quality Assurance Policy (QA Policy), which is itself the foundational and most authoritative guiding document for Woolf’s QA practices and can be found publicly at the following URL: https://woolf.university/legal/quality-assurance-eu.

1.2. Under the QA Policy, Woolf is a collegiate Higher Education Institution with a defined hierarchy of decision making, including the decision-making that resulted in this document. Read more about this in §1.6 of the QA Policy.

1.3. If you are eligible and would like to observe or participate in one of the committees of Woolf, write to registrar@woolf.education.

2. Policy Statement

Subject to the QA Policy, Woolf is committed to maintaining high standards of quality and excellence across the institution, including its member colleges. All constituent colleges and programmes must meet (see QA Policy §3) and maintain (see QA Policy §9) Woolf’s stringent QA requirements. Those requirements are multiple, and Woolf may at any time decline or end the approval of a programme or college which does not meet the QA standards.

Colleges engaging the use of third-parties, including vendors for marketing and student enrollment services must ensure that these policies are also followed by those service providers.

3. Due Notice

College’s will be notified by either the Head of Institution (or Officer delegated by the Head of Institution) or QAETAC in as soon possible for any QA violation or deficiency is discovered which may lead to the closure of a programme or college. Reasonable efforts will be made to find remediation solutions leading to QA compliance.

4. QA Compliance Deficiencies of Note

4.1. Non-Compliance with Woolf’s Quality Assurance Policy: Woolf may decline approval of degrees of a member college if such member college fails to comply with Woolf’s quality assurance rules and requirements as provided under Woolf’s Quality Assurance Policy. These rules and requirements are designed to ensure that students receive a quality education and, inter alia, includes:

4.1.1. Curriculum Requirements: Member colleges to meet minimum standards for course content, learning outcomes, and faculty qualifications including the following:

4.1.1.1. Workload: Workload is the total learning time (including study time). Workload determines the number of credits issued to students (25 hours of workload = 1 ECTS credit). Workload hours are assigned to resources and students must complete 100% of workload hours by engaging resources.

4.1.1.2. Teacher education: Teachers on the course must meet the education level required for the course to be able to teach it (e.g. MS level course requires either Master’s degree or verified status of Professional Expert).

4.1.1.3. Student education: Students can only enroll in the course if they have a verified education at the minimum threshold. E.g., a Bachelor’s degree to enroll in a Master’s degree.

4.1.1.4. Regular assignments: Students are required to submit quizzes, essays, status reports, and other assignments.

4.1.1.5. Summative assignment: Every course requires students to complete at least one cumulative assignment.

4.1.1.6. Peer-reviewed publication: Students, particularly at the EQF7 level, are required to engage with peer-reviewed academic publications published in the last five (5) years.

4.1.1.7. Meetings: Synchronous sessions, by video or in-person, where the student and teacher are both present.

4.1.2. Student Support Services: Member colleges to provide adequate academic and technical integration support services to students. Including but not limited to: Meetings: Synchronous sessions, by video or in-person, where the student and teacher are both present.

4.1.2.1. Completing the technical integration in a prompt and workmanlike manner, upon the agreed timeline, and within a period of time that ensures student learning and progression is adequately tracked and logged in Woolf’s record-keeping system.

4.1.2.2. Providing synchronous meetings for students, community fora, and other support contact points at the college level to ensure students have access to their teachers and support services.

4.1.2.3. Fulfilling their teaching responsibilities and refund obligations subject to the Woolf Agreement (as signed by students and teachers of the Woolf college) and the individual policies of the college agreed with each member or student.

4.1.2.4. Ensuring the teachers represented on a course on the Woolf platform are the same as those teachers actively engaged in the curriculum delivery.

4.1.2.5. Notifying students of their rights under the QA Policy, including the Red Flag procedure and escalation of appeals (QA Policy §1.8)

4.1.3. Accurate Information: Member colleges to provide truthful and current information about programs, faculty, and accreditation on the college website and other marketing materials. Marketing guidelines can be found here. All colleges must accurately represent their relationship to Woolf, the accreditation status of a program, and other program information to students at all stages of the student journey. Member colleges must transparently and accurately disclose their membership in Woolf on their website and to all third parties, designating Woolf as the sole Higher Education Institution of record.

4.1.4. Member colleges will not engage in any advertising, promotion, or public communication regarding the degree program offered through Woolf until formal approval of the degree has been granted by Woolf. Advertising must be compliant with academic and regulatory standards; member colleges will notify Woolf of marketing materials for compliance review.

4.1.5. Member colleges shall not conduct any in-person learning sessions associated with any Woolf degree unless expressly authorized by Woolf through a specific contractual agreement. The address of the in-person learning session must be specifically approved by Woolf in writing.

4.2. Learning Evidence: Woolf will only accept learning evidence of Students that is actor-based, real-time, and securely verified through Woolf’s SDK or API. For the sake of clarity, CSV exports are not actor-based, or real-time, or secure.

4.2.1. Actor-based means that the learning is created by the action of the student, e.g., the student reads a document and this action triggers the record. For the sake of clarity, a teacher or college reporting that a student completed the work is not an actor-based record.

4.2.2. Real-time means that the record is created when the learning occurs.

4.2.3. Securely verified means that the information is controlled and processed using Woolf’s patent-pending SDK and API system.

4.3. Financial stability and probity, lack of which is evidenced when:

4.3.1. A member college fails to settle outstanding invoices in a timely manner;

4.3.2. Statements by an officer of a member college or college sponsor to the effect that the college lacks funds to continue as a going concern or settle outstanding invoices;

4.3.3. A member college sells Woolf degrees to students without enrolling them in those degree programs promptly;

4.3.4. A Director or shareholder of Woolf provides evidence of the above.

4.4. Registrar representation: Colleges are constituent members of Woolf, and Woolf is the accredited entity and the Higher Education Institution of record. Therefore only Woolf will engage in representation of its accreditation and the regulated status of its students and degrees on behalf of colleges, faculty, and students to regulatory and related third-party bodies, including other schools, colleges or universities. Under no circumstances shall colleges represent themselves, their legal name, their address, or their students to regulatory bodies. In the first instance, colleges and students should write to registrar@woolf.education for handling all such representation. In particular, colleges shall not:

4.4.1. Promise a Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to students. RPL is processed by the authorized central committees or bodies of Woolf.

4.4.2. Issue degree, college, or Woolf enrollment letters to students. No enrollment is actual until the student is enrolled with Woolf with the approval of the college in the AMS, at which time the student is automatically issued with an enrollment letter. Saying that a student is enrolled in a college does not make the student enrolled in the college, rather the action must be performed in the AMS.

4.4.3. Issue degree certificates or transcripts.

4.4.4. Engage with third-party educational credential assessment agencies (e.g., ECE, FIS, WES, or other members of NACES.org)

4.4.5. Engage with national credential assessment agencies (e.g., ECCTIS, NARIC, ZAB)

4.4.6. Engage with national student financing bodies.

5. Procedure

Woolf will conduct periodic audits of member colleges. If Woolf discovers non-compliance with this Policy and/or the QA Policy through an audit or other means, the member colleges will be notified following the escalation process outlined below:

5.1.1. Informal Notification: For minor violations, Woolf will send an informal notification to the member college, including a resolution deadline.

5.1.2. Formal Notification: For serious violations, or if there is no response to the informal notification, Woolf will send a formal notification via email. This notification will detail the issue, provide a resolution deadline, and specify the degree un-verification date.

5.1.3. Removal of Degree Approval: If the member college fails to correct the non-compliance by the given deadline, Woolf will remove approval for the degree, including the right to enroll any further students in the degree by the college. Woolf will issue a warning letter instructing the member college to remove all references to unverifiable degrees and the college from their website.

5.1.4. Breach of Contract Notification: Upon removal of approval for a degree, Woolf will send a formal letter to the member college notifying them of the breach of contract.

5.1.5. Degree Student Notification: If noncompliance matters persist, Woolf will privately inform degree students in the college about the situation and potential risks.

5.1.6. College Student Notification: If noncompliance matters persist, Woolf will inform all students associated with the college about the situation and potential risks.

5.1.7. College Suspension Date Notification: If non-compliance continues, Woolf will inform the member college of the issue and provide the college with a college unapproval date.

5.1.8. College Suspension: If the member college fails to resolve the non-compliance by the specified date, Woolf will remove approval of the college, ultimately leading to restoration or permanent removal of the college from Woolf. Woolf will issue a warning letter instructing the member college to remove all references to unverifiable degrees and the college from their website.

6. Review and Amendments

This Policy will be reviewed annually and updated as necessary to ensure it remains effective and aligned with best practices.

7. Contact Information

Email: registrar@woolf.education

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