In‐house evaluation against the Investors in People standard: some pointers for self‐regulation in higher education

The national standard for staff development, “Investors in People”, is now being widely taken up in higher education. Institutional assessment takes place by individuals or small teams drawn from a network of accredited assessors. Ahead of formal assessment, institutions typically arrange a “mock assessment” using the same network of consultants. Describes the case where the mock assessment was brought in‐house using the experience of evaluation developed by an internal academic audit team. The team was able to produce an effective assessment which carried with it a range of benefits which could not have been achieved in such measure by an external process. The case shows the benefits of a flexible evaluative capacity in pressing for the case for a greater reliance in the future to be placed on self‐regulation, and points to a way in which more “owned” and cost effective approaches to investors’ assessments could be developed in the future.