December 2022
Inclusivity lead to sit on national panel to review higher education quality
By Melanie Hall
Share post:Read time: approx 3 mins
The lead for inclusivity at University College Birmingham has been appointed to a national panel to scrutinise and improve on the quality of higher education in universities and colleges across the UK.
Dr Devinder Rana-Rai, Director of Inclusive Curriculum and Higher Education Quality, is one of just 40 academic members to have been selected to review where higher education providers sit as part of the Teaching Excellence Framework run by the Office for Students (OfS).
The review is part of a recent revision of the framework by the OfS to increase the level of student input into the assessment process, with both students and academics sitting on the panel.
Dr Rana-Rai described the appointment as “an honour”.
“The Teaching Excellence Framework is an opportunity for providers of higher education to consolidate and continue their work on delivering excellence and quality in areas students care about most, learning, teaching, and their outcomes,” she said.
“It is an honour to have been selected as an academic panel member.”
The Teaching Excellence Framework assesses and rates universities and colleges for excellence above a set of minimum requirements for quality and standards.
Encouraged to embrace real reflection and consideration, providers that take part can receive an overall rating, as well as two underpinning ratings – one for the student experience and one for student outcomes.
With submissions entered in January 2023, overall ratings are classed as gold, silver, bronze or requiring improvement.
Dr Rana-Rai, who joined University College Birmingham in 2021, has been instrumental in developing strategic work on developing inclusivity and building equity that focuses on the success of all students and aims to eradicate all performance and awarding gaps.
Raising discussion around strong leadership and the importance of conversations about race and changing cultural perceptions, the University is working closely on inclusivity with the University of Warwick as part of a wider partnership that aims to raise aspirations and elevate student outcomes.
Through a series of hybrid workshops, staff are invited to learn from each other’s approaches to inclusive learning, practical teaching and co-created curricula.
As part of her university role, Dr Rana-Rai leads on race equality training and 4by4 intervention and evaluation work in building equity into curriculum design and delivery. She is currently designing an inclusivity framework for curriculum design and delivery with staff and student co-creators.
Find out more about student life at University College Birmingham here.
Check out our latest news stories

Healthcare heroes: first nursing and physiotherapy graduates celebrate
The first cohorts from University College Birmingham's Nursing (Adult) BSc (Hons) and Physiotherapy BSc (Hons) programme…
Read more
Blog | Career and placement opportunities with University College Birmingham
With many businesses citing a lack of real-world experience as one of their biggest challenges when trying to recr…
Read more
First graduands from University of Warwick partnership graduate
University College Birmingham graduands on University of Warwick accredited courses will be celebrating today, marking the firs…
Read more
Dedicated leader at University awarded Honorary Fellowship
Nigel Moss will receive an Honorary Fellowship from University College Birmingham this week as part of graduation celebrations on S…
Read more
Self-made entrepreneur to be made Honorary Professor
Surinder Arora, Founder and Chairman of the Arora Group, will be made an Honorary Professor and Fellow of University College Birmingham at…
Read more
Innovate UK awards £1.2m to University-led partnership to grow battery manufacturing
University College Birmingham will lead a regional partnership delivering a new project growing new skills…
Read more