Ratings in the teaching excellence framework will be of little use to students or employers until discipline-level data are available, it has been warned.

Stephen Isherwood, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, told a webchat hosted by Times Higher Education and the Higher Education Academy that institutional data would be ¡°too generic¡± to be used in application or employment decisions.

Under proposals released as part of the higher education White Paper, the TEF will not operate at course level until 2019-20, following piloting in 2018-19.

But most students choose their university by course, and there can be widespread variation in standards across institutions.

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Scroll down to hear the full webchat

Mr Isherwood said that the TEF was unlikely to ¡°start to get any real traction¡± until discipline-level data were available, and that it was a ¡°disappointment¡± that it would take so long to get to that stage.

¡°I understand getting it right and taking time [but] four years away? That bothers me that it takes so long to get to discipline level,¡± Mr Isherwood said. ¡°I think people will need it at discipline level ¨C that¡¯s where it becomes meaningful around student choice. Institution level is too generic a rating.¡±

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Mr Isherwood was joined in the webchat by Stephanie Marshall, the HEA¡¯s chief executive, and by Julie McLeod, pro vice-chancellor (student experience) at Oxford Brookes University.

Professor McLeod argued that the government¡¯s decision to phase in the TEF more slowly was welcome because proposed metrics such as satisfaction and graduate employment were ¡°poor proxies¡± for teaching standards. She argued that strong weight would need to be placed on the written evidence that institutions will be able to submit alongside their evidence.

¡°Metrics can over time lead to a herd mentality and chasing numerical scores,¡± Professor McLeod said. ¡°Therefore the contextual element of the TEF will be critical in ensuring different missions are best recognised.¡±

chris.havergal@tesglobal.com