La qualitat, garantia de millora AQU Catalunya. Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education of Catalonia Projects Esteve Arboix Dubrovnik, 12th October
La qualitat, garantia de millora Contents - AQU Catalunya -How do we evaluate programs: The TEEP experience Projects -Innovative programs: Design; DOUBLES
La qualitat, garantia de millora AQU Catalunya Catalonia 6 Million population; 11 universities; 400 study programs students lecturers AQU Catalunya : Consortium Combined organism: university administration Instrument for quality promotion in HE 2003: LUC : Independent body new competences ENQA founder; Budget: 1,6 M EUROS; Staff: 14
La qualitat, garantia de millora AQU Catalunya: Objectives and functions on Objectives: To promote institutional quality assessments in HE To build up consistent methodologies for quality assessment To supply objective information which may serve as a basis for decision making To impel mechanisms of transparency and accountability To inform the society Functions: Evaluation Accreditation: Person accreditation. Certification: teaching evaluation model
La qualitat, garantia de millora AQU Catalunya: Evaluation: 234 study programs (60% of the total); 21 transversal evaluation; 28 departments; 18 Follow up; 11doctarates Development of methodology: Follow up; transition from secondary education to HE; evaluation of library services; transition to HE to labour market Training of experts: both internal and external committees Publications: Reports; General Frameworks Cooperation: Spanish Quality Plan, ENQA
La qualitat, garantia de millora How do we evaluate: Assessing HE: Programes, procesuss; departments schools; university services Evaluation of programmes: Employers, teaching staff, students, stakeholders Methodology: Self assessment+External report+Final reports Role of external evaluation: Improvement and accountability Identification of strong and weak points Benchmarking of the evaluated programmes Contribution to self regulation Independent vision Global wiew
La qualitat, garantia de millora How do we evaluate: The TEEP experience TEEP (Trans European Evaluation Project 2002) Objectives: 1Develop new method for transnational evaluation 2Develop and agreed set of standards, procedures and guidelines on QA 3. Contribute to more visibility, transparency and comparability 4. No ranking 3 subject fields: History, Physics and Veterinary (Bachelor level) on four different universities ENQA Project: 3 agencies: EVA (DK); QAA (GB); AQU (CAT, Spain) FOCUS: Educational context; competences and learnig outcomes; QA Mech. METHOD: Self Assesment+External visit Positive experience
La qualitat, garantia de millora 2004 projects: DESIGN Objectives: Promotion the right design of programme’s structure according to the Bologna declaration and the new legal framework Avoid “mechanical” adaptations Experience showed: Need a better definition of program’s objectives according to employability orientation, structure coherence, QA mechanisms Programs based on inputs “ex-ante” homologation. Compulsory by law 5 pilot groups Medicine; Chemical Engineering; Catalan Philology; Psichology
La qualitat, garantia de millora 2004 projects: Innovative DESIGN Phases: 1. Development of methodology. Definition of quality Criteria (general Frameworks) 2. Design of the programme structure: adaptation of the general framework to each speciality 3.Evaluation of the new design 4. AQU’s report on the quality of that design Results: Establishment of a good practice referent for the design of the programmes structure Promotion of Bottom-up method to establish the ECTS Reports on Quality
La qualitat, garantia de millora 2004 projects: DOUBLES Objectives: 1. Double/shared degree promoter at postgraduate level 2.Emphasis on QA mechanisms: 2 agencies involved shared evaluation 3. Evaluation: TEEP experience shared evaluation criteria 4. Each study must define it’s competences at postgraduate level 5. Promotion of student and teachers mobility 6. Identification of obstacles for establishment of double degree Need: 1. Agreement between 2 universities and 2 agencies (fulfilment of minimum requirements of the study program) 2. Implication of Catalan Ministry and Grants Agency
La qualitat, garantia de millora 2004 projects: Innovative DOUBLES Expected Results: (early stage) 1.Creation of new programmes structure at post graduate level suitable to obtain double/shared degree based on Bologna recommendation 2.Methodological developpement based on postgraduate 3.Addition of value to the mobility of students and teachers 4.Idenfication of difficulties
La qualitat, garantia de millora Thank you very much