9.45 A number of commentators urged that the honours system should be supplemented by a profiling and transcript system, which would offer employers and others detailed information about the capabilities acquired by students. The Higher Education Quality Council recommended the development of student transcripts to provide greater consistency in presenting information about the achievements of students.¹⁶

9.46 We see value in the development of such transcripts, and have considered them in the context of a restructured National Record of Achievement of the kind proposed in the report by Sir Nicholas Goodison.¹⁷ This report proposes the introduction of a ‘Progress File’ designed for people to use throughout their lives. The report suggests that:

‘intelligent use of a record of achievement, as a planning tool for people’s personal development throughout their lives, is likely to make a major contribution to the raising of skills and therefore to the economy of the United Kingdom’.

9.47 Building on the Goodison report and on the Dearing recommendation in the review of qualifications of 16 to 19 year olds, more and more young people will be entering higher education in the future having used and completed Progress Files from the age of 14. They will have learned how to manage and plan their own learning, how to match their achievements to possible jobs and further learning opportunities, and will have prepared written applications for interviews. It is, therefore, likely that the effective use of such records could assist the transition from one phase of education to another. For students entering higher education at later stages in their lives – often from employment – the use of a Progress File could help to improve links between formal and informal learning and help people to value what they can do as well as what they know.

9.48 We are convinced that it would be advantageous if institutions of higher education were to contribute to the use of a Progress File as part of a student’s academic and personal development. The contents of the File would help students to review and record their past achievement, and encourage them to set targets and plan future development. It would provide a record from which they could construct their curricula vitae to communicate their achievements to prospective employers or education and training institutions. It would provide a basis from which students could seek guidance and advice. We see two major elements to the Progress File:

• an official record of achievement or transcript, provided by institutions;
• a means by which students can monitor, build and reflect upon their own personal development.

9.49 We have considered the extent to which there should be a common format across higher education providers for the first element, the transcript. It is likely that both students and employers will become impatient if faced with a plethora of different formats for the presentation and summation of achievement. On the other hand, different institutions offer students very different higher education experiences. We believe a common format should be developed, within which individual institutions can produce their own transcripts. We expect the transcripts to convey a standard set of information, including final award; modules covered, with individual marks; and results of any other assessed activity (work placements, for example).

9.50 The second element of the File would include material which demonstrated progress and achievement in key and other skills and recorded informal and work-based learning. The File would need to be structured to enable students to manage the information they want to record, store and update. It is likely that information technology will be a powerful tool in the use and updating of individual Progress Files.

9.51 There is a danger that the reservoir of materials within the Files may become dysfunctional unless it is used skilfully and selectively: otherwise potential employers could be overwhelmed by information and job seekers put at a disadvantage. If students are in the habit from the age of 14 of using the information stored in the File, it is likely that they will select the most relevant evidence for an interview in order to present themselves more effectively than individuals with no systematic approach to cataloguing achievement. Students will need encouragement to focus on the File, which may require them to be related in some way to assessment and progression. This suggests that staff should integrate the development of the Progress Files into the academic process, which in turn leads to training and development needs for staff. It will be for individual institutions to develop ways of ensuring that students are encouraged to exploit the full potential of their personal records.

9.52 We expect that employers will always want some form of brief indication about the achievement of students, especially when they are overwhelmed with applications. We do not, therefore, recommend the early withdrawal of the degree classification system. However, we do hope that as the Progress File approach is adopted nationally – including the development of transcripts – and its utility is confirmed, the present classification system may become increasingly redundant. Indeed, we envisage that in due course the honours classification system will be replaced by awards and awards with distinction. This will provide a clear indication to employers and others where achievement has been of a higher order.

Recommendation 20
We recommend that institutions of higher education, over the medium term, develop a Progress File. The File should consist of two elements:

• a transcript recording student achievement which should follow a common format devised by institutions collectively through their representative bodies;
• a means by which students can monitor, build and reflect upon their personal development.

Information about programmes
9.53 In this chapter, we have outlined our vision for the developing nature of programmes in higher education. We have emphasised a desire for diversity and choice to meet the varying needs of students with different interests and at different stages in their lives. In Chapter 10, we argue the case for additional stopping-off points as part of the qualifications framework. In Chapters 6, 7 and 22 we stress the importance of clear and explicit information for students so that they can make informed choices about their studies and the levels they are aiming to achieve. Drawing these strands together, we believe that clear descriptions of programmes should be developed so that students are able to compare different offerings and make sensible choices about the programmes they wish to take.

Recommendation 21
We recommend that institutions of higher education begin immediately to develop, for each programme they offer, a ‘programme specification’ which identifies potential stopping-off points and gives the intended outcomes of the programme in terms of:

• the knowledge and understanding that a student will be expected to have upon completion;
• key skills: communication, numeracy, the use of information technology and learning how to learn;
• cognitive skills, such as an understanding of methodologies or ability in critical analysis;
• subject specific skills, such as laboratory skills.

9.54 Such programme specifications could usefully replace some of the prospectus material that is presently produced. They will provide a basis for employers and students to understand the level – or standard – that programmes are aiming to reach in different areas. Students and others will need to be able to rely on the accuracy of the information provided in the programme specifications. In the next chapter, we develop our ideas on how the programme specification can become a vehicle for clearer understandings about the content and standards of programmes and how its reliability can be assured.