Higher education in the United Kingdom in the context of "UCAS"

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (usually referred to simply as the Quality Assurance Agency or QAA) is the independent expert quality body for the United Kingdom's higher education sector. Its mandate is to maintain and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in tertiary education within the United Kingdom and internationally. The QAA conducts quality assessment reviews, develops reference points and guidance for providers, and undertakes or commissions research on relevant issues.

The QAA plays a nationwide role in the United Kingdom on behalf of the sector, maintaining sector-owned reference points such as the United Kingdom Quality Code for Higher Education and Subject Benchmark Statements. It also maintains the Credit Frameworks used across the various nations of the United Kingdom and the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications, which is applicable throughout the United Kingdom, except in Scotland.

The Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (c. 29) was enacted into law in the United Kingdom by the Houses of Parliament on 27 April 2017. It is intended to create a new regulatory framework for higher education, increase competition and student choice, ensure students receive value for money, and strengthen the research sector.

The Act is a replacement for the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and is intended to accommodate subsequent changes in the higher education sector. Viscount Younger, the sponsor of the Bill in the House of Lords, called it "the most important legislation for the sector in 25 years", a claim supported by Universities UK, who said that it is "the first major regulatory reform" to higher education in that period.