Quality Assurance in Higher Education CEDEFOP Expert Seminar, Berlin, Feb. 25, 2011 Dr. Philipp Pohlenz, University of Potsdam, Centre for Teaching Quality Development (ZfQ)
Agenda Cornerstones of the QA-system at Potsdam University State of the Art in QA Development Paths Open Questions
QA: Cornerstones From 2007: Setting up a “Quality Policy“: –Development plan for high quality education services (mission statement) –Legislation for educational evaluation, QM framework –Decentralisation, autonomy at Department level –Checks and balances: „Meta-Evaluation“ –Enhancement of existing QA Unit, establishment of ZfQ in 2009 –Enhancement of further education for teachers
QA: Cornerstones From 2009 –Entering „system accreditation“: Preparatory workshops, stakeholder involvement, “dialogue events“ Process management Self-documentation of QM system, first (out of three) site-visit Finalising the accreditation excercise in 2012 Establishing an “internal accreditation agency“
State of the Art in QA Maturity of QA at Institution Level? –Many German HE institutions establish systematic QM as a prerequisite for system accreditation. –At present: reluctance to enter system accreditation. Universities‘ QM systems still at initial stage (e.g. evaluation only at course level) Have undergone accreditation at programme level. –Maturity of Universities‘ approaches is under evaluation in system accreditation. –However, so far no empirical findings available due to the small number of cases.
State of the Art in QA Challenges for QA? –Reference points for assessing quality are missing. Against what standards are we evaluating achievements? EQF/NQF are underutilised; could serve as reference points. –Learning outcomes are not sufficiently issued in QA procedures. –ESG accepted and in use as main source for developing QA?
State of the Art in QA Challenges for QA at Institution Level? –Closing quality circuits: what consequences (if any) are drawn from poor evaluation results (“evidence-based action“)? –Managerial power of institutions‘ leaderships? –Strategies for establishing quality culture: dialogue and rewards –Development of context-sensitive QM procedures and instruments: acceptance of QA in the academia.
Development Paths Quality Control or Quality Development? –Accreditation or Quality Audits? –Promoting institutional autonomy, bringing evaluation back in QA as institutional research –Providing evidence on the determinants of student learning outcomes –Evaluation research rather descriptive, analytic potentials of available data remains underutilised.
Development Paths Establishment of QA units, “Chief Quality Officers“. Benefits to the institution: –As part of the leadership (“Stabsstelle“): underlining the emphasis which is placed on QA by HE institutions‘ managements. –As part of the academia (Institutional Research Centre): more independent, high trust in the outcomes of the performed institutional research.
Open Questions How to link QA in HE and VET? –QA in a LLL perspective: Analysis of students‘ learning biographies as a significant contribution to establish sound evidence on study programmes‘ learning impacts. Establishing a monitoring system on the education system‘s effectiveness. HE and quality standards. What can be learnt from VET (and the school sector)?
Thanks for your attention!
Contact Dr. Philipp Pohlenz University of Potsdam Centre for Teaching Quality Development Am Neuen Palais 10 D Potsdam