Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 1 Quality Assurance in Higher Education Flanders in a European Context

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 2 Joke Claeys Ghent University Department of Educational Affairs Division of Quality Management

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 3 Contents - Evolution of the notion of quality - The history of Quality Assurance in higher education - First generation of external QA - Accreditation and it’s consequences

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 4 Quality has several definitions (Green, 1994) - Excellence -‘Fitness for purpose’: ~ the aims of the institutions - Meet some basic standars - Efficacy of realising the aims - Meet the needs and expectations of the clients

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 5 Quality as excellence - Popular notion amongst professors and chancellors,… - Quality assurance (QA) is focused upon the input

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 6 Quality= fitness for purpose - The notion is less absolute - Central issue: the aims of a program/institution - QA is focused upon the processes realising the aims - The function of improvement is the most important

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 7 Quality: meeting basic standards - Reaction upon the relativism of the preceding - Basic standards have to be met - Link with accreditation - QA is focused upon the output

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 8 Quality : Meet the needs and expectations of the clients -The point of reference is outside the institutions: students, stakeholders, society - Quality: a means of satisfying external expectations - QA is focused upon the output

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 9 History - 80ties and first half of the 90ties: transition from ‘excellence ‘ to ‘fitness for purpose’ - Second half of the 90ties: criticism; introduction of ‘basic standards’

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 10 QA in European Higher Education - Before the 80ties: individual initiatives, no real general policy - Some historic factors: - More students in higher education - Economic crisis; less governmental financing - Governments want to control the use of financing

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 11 QA in European Higher Education - External factors have exercised the strongest influence - Pioneering countries: The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Denmark - Countries as Belgium followed these models (esp. The Netherlands)

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 12 Functions of QA in Education - Improvement and warrant of quality: ‘peers’ evaluate the program and give recommendations - Accountability towards the government and the clients (students, parents, employers) - Regulation and adaptation of the educational system: QA indicators can influence rationalisation decisions,..

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 13 QA has different subjects - Research: exists in the Netherlands - A study program (e.g. physics); all institutions at the same time - A cluster of similar programs (future development) - A whole institution (e.g. EUA in Macedonia)

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 14 Internal and external QA - Internal: for use in the institution: e.g. student questionnaires - External: the final judgement on a program is made by an external commission

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 15 QA in Flanders Central element in the startup: Decree on universities (June 12th, 1991) Art 122 Imposes a continuous monitoring of the quality of education: internal and external QA are mentioned

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 16 Realisations: - Internal QA: student questionnaires - External QA: visitation (peer review): first generation

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 17 External QA: Visitations (peer review) - 8 year cycle - A panel of experts judges the program - Result: - a public report on all the important issues - a related score list (comparison between institutions is possible) - recommendations for improvement

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 18 External QA: Visitations (peer review) Phases in the process: 1.The program writes a self assessment report. Professors, assistant professors, students, alumni,… are all involved. A manual with guidelines is strictly followed.

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 19 External QA: Visitations (peer review) 2. - A commission of experts is composed, on the proposal of the programs involved. They act on a completely independant base. - Experts in the subject matter; 5 persons, 1 president, 1 didactical expert

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 20 External QA: Visitations (peer review) 3. The commission reads the self assessment report Site visit: 2,5 days - meetings with professors, assistant professors, other personnel involved in education, students, alumni, study guidance,…

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 21 External QA: Visitations (peer review) 5. The commission writes a report containing their evaluation of the program, recommendations, good practices,… The different programs are also compared.

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 22 External QA: Visitations (peer review) 6. - The report is published and can be consulted by future students, newspapers, other institutions,… - The Minister of Education gets a report. 7. The programs react upon the recommendations and can make adaptations to the study program.

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 23 Accreditation: a second generation of external QA Antecedents: societal evolutions - Internationalisation: cooperation; mobility of professors and students - Globalisation: a market for research and study programs emerges - Liberalisation: commercial suppliers can can organise education - Evolution towards a knowledge society

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 24 Accreditation: definition A formal, public judgement made by an independant body, based upon an evaluation of quality, guaranteeing that basic standards are met

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 25 Internationalisation: Bologna - BOLOGNA: (19/6/99), signed by 29 European countries - Goal: create a European space for higher education in order to enhance the employability and mobility of citizens and to increase the international competitiveness of European higher education

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 26 Bologna: specific goals (1) - adopt a system of easily readable and comparable degrees, (also through the implementation of the Diploma Suppl.) - adopt a system with 2 main cycles (undergraduate and graduate), with first degrees no shorter than 3 years and relevant to the labour market

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 27 Bologna: specific goals (2) - establish an system of credits (such as ECTS) also covering lifelong learning activities - promote European co-operation in quality assurance, (aiming at comparable criteria and methods) - promote mobility by overcoming legal recognition and administrative obstacles (for students and teachers)

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 28 Realisations in the QA area - ENQA: European Association for Quality Assurance: ° 2000; - Spreads information, ‘good practices’ about QA in higher education to European quality agencies, authorities and higher education institutions

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag EUA: European University Association; had several projects about QA procedures, QA culture, comparing different countries - Accreditation is implemented in several countries (e.g. Spain, The Netherlands, Flanders, through new legislation)

Tempus Workshop Zagreb pag. 30 Functions of accreditation - Guarantee a certain basic quality of institutions or programs - Reinforce the existing forms of QA e.g. by strenghtening their sanctioning capacity - Create more standardisation of norms, procedures and criteria, to enhance comparability - Improve the public responsibility function of QA by giving transparant info to students, parents,…