NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 Alignment of Internal and External Quality Assurance Mechanisms and Impact on Education Quality Development Dr David Cairns

NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 Outline Recap: the chief elements of the NCEQE Authorization Standards and Evaluation Principles for HE The characteristics of the Authorization Standards and Evaluation Principles, their suitability for application by HEIs and potential for Quality Development –views from an outsider Reconciling the needs of Georgia and its higher education institutions

NCEQE Authorization Standards and Evaluation Principles for HE NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 NCEQE Authorization Standards and Evaluation Principles for HE 9.1 Mission of the HEI 9.2 Strategic Development 10.1 Organisational structure and management of the HEI 10.2 Internal quality assurance mechanisms 10.3 Observing principles of ethics and integrity 11.1 Design and development of educational programmes 11.2 Structure and content of educational programmes 11.3 Assessment of Learning Outcomes 12 Personnel of the HEI 13 Students and their support activities 14 Research, development and other creative work 15 Material, information and financial resources

NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 Pause – for those from HEIs to rank the Standards in order of their significance to the work and quality assurance of their HEI

NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 Pause – for those from NCEQ to rank the Standards in order of their significance to the work and quality assurance of authorizations

How do the priorities of HEIs and NCEQE compare? NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 How do the priorities of HEIs and NCEQE compare? For later discussion

NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 An outsider’s view of the NCEQE Draft Authorization Standards and Evaluation Principles for HE They are designed to close the ‘gate’ to unscrupulous individuals twho wish to set up up bogus HEIs They are a move towards having HEIs implement the European Standards and Guidelines 2015 Part 1 But with the significant omission of full student participation as reviewers NCEQE is seriously interested in the competence of HEIs to manage their own affairs Better explained, the draft approach could help to warn NCEQE of the likelihood of failure in HEIs

NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 My experience of rules-based and principles based approaches to regulation Academics and academic administrators are (or should be) clever people They will always be difficult to regulate because they are clever at ‘gaming’ rules and getting around them! Those who would regulate HEIs need to be at least as clever and well-qualified as those whose activities they are attempting to regulate, and also very determined and diplomatic Rules based regulations that cause staff in HEIs to undertake activities that are divorced from their own priorities appear to have no benefit for the HEI will be grudgingly followed before a review and quickly abandoned after it

An outsider’s view of priorities for external reviews: 1 NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 An outsider’s view of priorities for external reviews: 1 Corporate governance Who within the HEI is keeping an eye on the finances and management? Board of Regents? Board of Reptesentatives? How effective are they in doing this and holding management to account? Leadership and management Do leaders and managers use the financial, material and human resources available to them effectively and prudently? Do they collect data and qualitative information and use it to enhance the quality of education research and services? Do they operate fair and ethical procedures? Do they explain the HEI’s priorities to governors, staff and students and enlist their support and advice?

An outsider’s view of priorities for external reviews: 2 NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 An outsider’s view of priorities for external reviews: 2 Academic governance Are faculty actively involved in setting the academic path the HEI follows? Do the HEI’s faculty scrutinise its teaching and research activities effectively? Is Academic Council an effective body? Does the HEI have means to engage its students and employers in the management and governance of programmes and the institution? Externality Is the HEI an open institution? Does it involve external peer experts in its internal reviews of its programmes, research and governance? Does it publish its key performance information? Does it identify its own ‘communities’ and work with them? Accessibility and student support Does the HEI have policies, strategies and procedures that help students and staff with disabilities to participate fully in learning, teaching, research and extra-curricular activities?

What is to be done? By NCEQE NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 What is to be done? By NCEQE Explain to HEIs what underlies the approach to authorization and the need to protect HEIs, students and the ‘brand’ of Georgian HE from unscrupulous operators Work with HEIs and the Ministry to promote Georgian HE Examine how to make more use of HEIs’ internal quality assurance where it can be seen to be effective Work to promote student participation Ensure only the most highly qualified and able applicants are selected as reviewers Publish more information about good practice identified in NCEQE reviews and authorizations and look for opportunities to promote good practice to the public and their representatives

What is to be done? By HEIs NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 What is to be done? By HEIs Seek regular ‘sounding board’ meetings between your representative bodies and NCEQE Nominate your best academic staff to be NCEQE reviewers and release them for training and working groups in addition to reviews Invite and encourage your students to participate in your own internal quality management and curriculum review procedures and encourage NCEQE to do the same Explain to your stakeholders why quality control and quality assurance are important in higher education Ensure your full-time staff seek your permission before accepting commitments with other HEIs Make sure that you have procedures to deal with conflicts of interest at all levels and in all HEI activities

Resources ENQA UKCISA University World News QAA AAA Internationalisation and Quality, November 3 2016 Resources ENQA http://www.enqa.eu/ UKCISA http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/ University World News http://www.universityworldnews.com/ QAA http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en AAA http://www.academicaudit.net/

david.cairns@qaresarch.net www.academicaudit.net NCEQE Conference 6 December 2016 Thank You david.cairns@qaresarch.net www.academicaudit.net