Programme Excellence Project (PEP): Why are we doing it and how does it link to the TEF?

As we approach PEP2 deferred reviews and engage in PEP3: Module Review, many academic colleagues are actively engaging with the Programme Excellence Project (PEP) for the first time. Since the start of term, we have received a growing number of enquiries about the PEP, including: 

• Why we are doing PEP and its relevance to the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 

• PEP’s governance and the nature of the partnership with faculties and departments 

• Consultation on the UCL Curriculum Design Principles and new Module Operating Model Principles and ‘non-standard’ curriculum (how they came to be identified as ‘non-standard') and consideration of equality, diversity and inclusion 

• How we are supporting the successful delivery of PEP-reviewed courses for 2027 entry and beyond and the development of new courses 

• Future changes to how we are supporting PEP delivery across the student journey lifecycle – from application to graduation – and ongoing evaluation. 

Over the coming weeks, we will provide a series of communications which aim to provide clarity in response to the above questions to address any staff concerns. In addition to this, the PEP team is also happy to come and talk to any teams or individuals directly, and/or respond to direct email enquiries via our dedicated inbox: pepteam@ucl.ac.uk

Essential information about PEP

• PEP-reviewed courses will be implemented for 2027 entry, except for PEP2B deferred reviews which will be implemented for 2028 entry 

• PEP is overseen by a Project Board that reports to UCL Education Committee. PEP Governance includes a dedicated Strategic Delivery Board that oversees PEP’s implementation for 2027 

• PEP is fully integrated with the implementation of the new Curriculum Information Management system, CourseLoop 

• All pre-existing course planning and delivery processes for 2027 entry have been integrated into PEP 

• PEP is essential to helping UCL maintain a Silver TEF award and avoid potential restrictions on degree awarding powers and fee uplifts, which might result from UCL only securing a Bronze (or minimum level of quality) TEF award 

• PEP carries a high level of organisational risk, meaning failure to successfully deliver any aspect of PEP on the current timeline would have major reputational, financial, resource, planning, and student and staff experience implications. 

Why are we doing PEP?

The Programme Excellence Project (PEP), originally known as ‘Programme Architecture’, is a leading initiative in UCL’s Strategic Plan 2022-27. The purpose of PEP has always been to improve student and staff experience as shaped by the design, operational management, and delivery of our courses and modules.  

As our UCL Curriculum Landscape Study and Module Landscape Study have shown, the current curriculum picture at UCL is complex and uneven, with many courses and modules operating outside of existing UCL Academic Manual curriculum framework regulations. This creates regulatory risk to UCL and contributes to poor degree awarding, onboarding, module selection and timetabling experiences for students and staff. 

Continuing with our historical ways of operating is increasingly unsustainable. This is not least because the last Teaching Excellence Framework panel (2023) told us that they had concerns about our inequitable provision and the negative impact of this on unrepresented student groups, in particular. 

In our Strategic Plan 2022-27, the product of UCL-wide consultation, it is noted that: 

“We have undoubted strengths and excellent practice across the university, but also we are not yet consistently meeting the needs and expectations of our students... significant numbers of staff report excessive workloads and high administrative costs for processes that ought to be straightforward…it is time to look more fundamentally at the structures and ways of working that have built up incrementally... By freeing staff of administrative tasks, we create more time for students and teachers to work together on a curriculum that will genuinely prepare students for the changing world.” 

Reflecting this, the aims of PEP are to: 

• Improve the student experience by offering realistic choices and ensuring that all students are part of a community 

• Improve the staff experience by reducing complexity, admin burden and unnecessary costs for departments   

• Create shared spaces in the curriculum for our education priorities   

• Improve UCL’s systems and processes – such as timetabling, module selection, assessment and programme approval – so that they support departments and students effectively   

• Ensure that UCL makes the best possible use of our resources   

• Ensure that UCL can respond in an agile way to future changes in funding, workplace requirements and student demand. 

PEP and changes to the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

PEP was instigated in 2023 as a key strategic project to drive improvements across the curriculum and student experience to achieve a positive outcome in the next TEF. It seeks to respond to the TEF panel’s feedback that: “the panel found high variability across subject areas and demographic groups, including students from under-represented backgrounds, and very low assessment metrics across UCL”. 

In the last TEF (2023), UCL was rated Silver for overall student experience. Since then, there have been several suggested changes to the future TEF (from 2027) which could have significant ramifications for UCL. This makes successful delivery of PEP more important than ever before.  

The Office for Students (OfS) is currently consulting on proposed changes to how it assesses and regulates the quality of Higher Education. The aim is to create a more coherent, risk-based and improvement-focused system that better supports student experience and outcomes and institutional accountability. 

It is proposed that, subject to legislation, a revised quality system will integrate the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) with targeted regulatory assessments. In the next iteration of TEF it is also proposed that postgraduate taught students will be included via a survey that will be issued in 2028.

In previous iterations of the TEF, Bronze, Silver and Gold award categories all signified degrees of excellence above minimum quality requirements. However, in the future TEF it is proposed that a Bronze institution should be classed as only delivering a ‘minimum’ level of quality. 

Under proposed revisions to TEF from 2027, it has been proposed that institutions will overall be awarded the lower of their two ratings if their ratings for experience and outcomes differ. 

In the future, institutions rated Bronze may be subject to increased scrutiny, including OfS visits charged back to the institution (cost recovery); limits on student numbers where growth appears to be at the expense of quality; and potential restrictions on degree awarding powers. In addition, future (home) tuition fee uplifts may be made conditional on providers meeting higher quality thresholds under the OfS’s proposed regulatory framework. In other words, a TEF Bronze ranking could result in significant reputational, financial and additional workload implications for UCL. 

How is PEP helping us mitigate the risk of TEF Bronze?

PEP has always been central to UCL’s efforts to improve student experiences and outcomes to support achievement of TEF Silver in 2027. In 2025/26, for example, PEP2 provided the opportunity for students and staff to come together to reflect on ways of improving student’s experiences of the curriculum, assessment and feedback, and academic support. And, as many faculties reflected in their PEP2B panel submissions, the process identified many changes – and provided the conditions to make changes – to improve current student’s experiences and outcomes. 

Equally, the new TEF cycle starting in 2027 will coincide with the launch of UCL’s PEP-reviewed UG and PGT course and module curriculum portfolio for 2027. This will enable us to clearly demonstrate how we have decisively and strategically responded to 2023 TEF panel feedback in our future TEF submission statement to improve student experiences and outcomes, including by working in close partnership with our student community who actively support the PEP endeavour. 

Final thoughts

As always, we want to thank all members of the UCL community who have supported PEP to date. There has been, quite simply, exceptional work undertaken in many departments and faculties, especially those who have seized the opportunity presented by PEP to positively engage colleagues and students in conversations about improvements to student experience and the future curriculum.  

There is still a way (and a PEP3) to go, but we have every confidence that working together as a community we will get there to enable us to achieve TEF Silver in 2027. 

The next PEP communication will focus on PEP governance and partnership with faculties and departments, including case studies of where this has been working particularly well for others to learn from.