Should one or more of the partner institutions wish to leave the joint program partnership and offer a standalone program only, the Quality Council will need to determine whether this can be quality assured through the major modification process, or if this rises to the level of a new program. Each situation will be unique and the Council’s decision is therefore made on a case-by-case basis.

In order to make this determination, universities are asked to provide the following details to the Quality Council:

• A brief summary of the current joint program arrangement (for example, which universities are involved in the partnership, for how long the joint program has operated, etc.).
• Is there already an existing “standalone” program that students can enter directly into?
• What is the degree of “jointness” at this stage?
• A brief explanation of the program requirements, with a focus on those aspects that are currently jointly delivered and those that are independently delivered by the institution.
• What impact will the dissolution and subsequent offering of a standalone program have and how will those elements be offered in the future without the partner institution(s)? For example:
  • Will there be human, physical and / or other financial resource implications for no longer offering the program jointly and if so, what are these?
  • Will new courses need to be created in order to fill the gap of those previously offered by the partner institution(s)?
  • Will the program-level learning outcomes be affected and if so, how and to what degree?
  • When was the joint program last cyclically reviewed and was this review conducted jointly or separately?
  • Were there any related findings of the last program review related to the degree of “jointness” of the program?
  • Are there any governance implications arising from the separation?
  • What impact will this have on students (for example, funding, experience, research opportunities, etc.)?