Audit tools

Audits are a good way to initiate discussion and facilitate development on an issue. They enable you to make clear the range of activities which may contribute to the issue and the process can also reassure colleagues that quite a lot of work may already be developed in the area. The process should recognise local autonomy and priorities within an institutional frame-work.

The purpose of an audit is developmental, not simply to come up with an overall score for the course/programme. They are designed to help teachers consider the content and design of a course/programme with respect to a particular issue and where improvements could be made. The first audit was one for assessment which was developed by Prof. Ian Hughes, Co-Director of the Centre for Bioscience and Professor of Pharmacology Education, University of Leeds as part of his National Teaching Fellowship. Subsequently the Centre developed others.

Audit downloads

All the audits are available to download as pdf documents. If you would like a copy of any of the audits in Word format please contact us.

• Assessment audit
• Induction audit * (external link to Word document on STAR project website)
• Employability audit
• Work placement
• Work related learning
• Ethics audit, incorporating sustainability
• Enterprise audit tool, including entrepreneurship/business enterprise
• External examining - institutional audit
• External examining - examiners audit
• Reverse employability - designed around a programme handbook for a hypothetical Bioscience BSc, this material provides an authentic activity in which staff are encouraged to identify areas of the course (handbook) where aspects of employability could be better addressed. Download the programme handbook or group instructions

*The Induction Audit Tool was produced as part of the FDTL STAR project (Student Transition and Retention). Their activities are evaluated so please give them your feedback on this resource, email star@ulster.ac.uk

How have the audits been used?

Employability Link at the University of the West of Scotland used the Employability Audit in their Mapping Employability Toolkit. The toolkit is used to explore how employability skills have been embedded and used across programmes and how graduate attributes are effectively promoted. Various subject teams (including Mathematics, Chemistry and Languages) have used the toolkit and have found it has helped to identify both strengths and gaps in their provision. Download the Mapping Employability Toolkit (pdf).

The development and use of the Mapping Employability Toolkit was presented as a poster at the 2011 Enhancement Themes Conference. Download the poster in pdf format.