The UK Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) - What (If Anything) Does it Mean for Postgraduates?

If you're currently studying in the UK (or considering doing so) you may have heard about something called the 'TEF'.

This 'Teaching Excellence Framework' is a rating system managed by the UK Government. As the name suggests, it exists to assess the quality of teaching at UK universities. The first major TEF results were published in 2017.

Participating institutions have been given a rating of 'Gold', 'Silver' or 'Bronze', depending on how they perform against a set of metrics.

Do these ratings matter to students? In principle, yes. Informing students about teaching quality if what the TEF exists to do. However, it's not so simple for prospective postgraduate students, deciding where to study for a Masters degree or PhD.

This blog explains why.

The truth is that, for postgraduates in particular, TEF ratings may not be as important as they seem. And if you are factoring them into your decision-making, you should do so with caution:

1) The TEF doesn't measure postgraduate teaching (yet)

For now, all of the metrics that inform the TEF are designed to measure a university's undergraduate teaching. They do this by using results from the National Student Survey (NSS) along with data for student dropout rates and graduate employment.

This information might potentially reflect the quality of postgraduate teaching - on Masters degrees or other qualifications. But it doesn't do so directly. The NSS data (that directly represents student views and opinions) has also been given a lower weighting in the 2018 TEF.

There are plans to introduce an additional TEF for postgraduate taught courses, but it may be some time before this happens.

2) The TEF doesn't measure postgraduate research (ever)

It's in the name, after all. If you're considering a postgraduate research course such as a PhD or MPhil, you won't receive 'teaching' from your university. At least, not in the conventional sense - and certainly not in the way the TEF is designed to measure.

It's possible to take a holistic view of the TEF and assume that a university with great teaching might also be a great environment for postgraduate research... but there's no guarantee of that. And it's not what the TEF ratings mean.

If you want to know more about the quality of a university's research you're better off looking at the Research Excellence Framework.

The 'REF' has been around for several years and is a much better measure of the environment, support and potential a university provides for research students.

And, unlike the TEF, REF results are available for specific subject areas. You can learn more about it in our postgraduate guide to the REF.

3) The TEF doesn't really measure teaching (directly)

It sounds strange, but it's true. Nothing in the TEF actually looks directly at a university's teaching practices.

It doesn't measure how many teaching staff a university employs or what their qualifications are. Nor does it look at how many contact hours students receive, or what kinds of methods and facilities are used in teaching.

Instead, the TEF uses a set of measurements that are effectively proxies for teaching quality.

The key metrics are as follows:

• Student satisfaction - uses selected NSS scores to measure opinions of Course Teaching, Assessment and Academic Support.
• Continuation rates - looks at the number of students who 'drop out' and don't complete their degrees.
• Employment - looks at the proportion of graduates in work or further study after six months.

All of these are designed to measure the kinds of things that could reflect 'teaching excellence'. The assumption being that a university with excellent teaching is likely to have high student satisfaction scores, experience low dropout rates and produce graduates with good employment prospects.

The problem is that these metrics could also be influenced by factors unrelated to teaching. The TEF uses other methods to try and compensate for this, but the excercise's core metrics are not without their limitations (or critics - including students).

4) The TEF doesn't measure results by subject (yet)

TEF results and labels are given to institutions, not faculties or departments.

The absence of subject-specific ratings is - arguably - a much bigger limitation for assessing postgraduate courses where departmental specialisation and expertise are more important than an institution's 'overall' performance.

There are plans to introduce a subject-level TEF in future years, but the process is likely to be complicated.

5) The TEF is a bit simplistic (in its outcomes)

Strictly speaking, the TEF is actually very complicated: pulling in different data sets, statements from universities plus benchmarking and review processes. There's a reason some commentators have referred to it as an 'incredible machine'.

But, when it comes to results, the Teaching Excellence Framework is very simplistic. Perhaps misleadingly so.

Those 'Gold', 'Silver' and 'Bronze' labels may seem like an easy and attractive way to distinguish between UK universities when searching for a postgraduate course. Taken on their own though, they don't necessarily reflect the detail and nuance of a university's teaching - just how it did in the TEF.

So, should postgraduates completely ignore the TEF? Not necessarily. A university with a good rating will have earned it through a record of positive student satisfaction, relatively low dropout rates and encouraging graduate employment outcomes.

If you are considering a Masters or PhD at a university with a Gold (or Silver) TEF rating, you can view this as a nice bonus.

But, if you've found a great-looking postgraduate course only to find the university has a Bronze TEF rating. . . you don't need to be concerned. And you certainly shouldn't let it put you off studying there.

For now, we'd recommend prospective Masters and PhD students don't take the TEF too seriously (and remember that it doesn't measure postgraduate teaching yet).

Thankfully, there are other resources you can use: including university rankings, REF results and, of course, the advice on this website.

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