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Scotland's higher education principals have called for an end to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council's quality assessment system, and are seeking a single quality assurance body for the whole of the United Kingdom.

The Committee of Scottish Higher Education Principals says that while SHEFC has done a good job, quality audit and assessment should be carried out by a system which is compatible across the UK.

The principals propose a single body, run by higher education institutions themselves, developed from the Higher Education Quality Council.

In a letter to Ian Lang, Secretary of State for Scotland, COSHEP said: "Experience suggests that in some highly specialised areas the amount of teaching and research done in Scotland is insufficient to justify or validate adequately the outcome of the quality assessment exercise, whereas this difficulty would be avoided if they were carried out on a broader, UK basis.

"We recognise the importance of reassuring students and other stakeholders of the quality outcomes, but we do not consider that the present arrangements are the best means of doing so."

Roger Brown, chief executive of HEQC, said: "This is very much in line with what its English and Welsh counterparts have said."