PROGRAMMEACCREDITATION Assoc. Prof. Ivan OSTROVSKÝ, PhD Tbilisi, Georgia November 2005

HIGHER EDUCATION l PAST NO challenges NO responsibility

HIGHER EDUCATION l PRESENT CHALLENGES RESPONSIBILITY

HIGHER EDUCATION l FUTURE CHALLENGES RESPONSIBILITY

HIGHER EDUCATION l CHANGES l CHALLENGES non-elite approach = massification, free access l non-elite approach = massification, free access l higher education as a business l student as a „customer“ l competition for students l globalisation l less autonomy, more government Quality Assurance !!! l Quality Assurance !!! l Transparency and Accountability Open European Higher Education Area l Open European Higher Education Area EUROPEAN TRENDS

HIGHER EDUCATION l QUALITY, QUALITY ASSURANCE quality as excellence l quality as excellence quality as „zero errors“ l quality as „zero errors“ l quality as „fitness for purpose“ quality as transformation l quality as transformation quality as threshold l quality as threshold quality as enhancement l quality as enhancement Concept l Concept EUROPEAN TRENDS Many experts interpret the quality in higher education as ”fitness for purpose” even the technologies for measure and ensure it are of very wide range including thresholds, benchmarking, excellence and enhancement.

HIGHER EDUCATION l MAIN PLAYERS/USERS autonomy l autonomy responsibility l responsibility University l University positionroledevelopment owner l owner l provider   Government l Government partner l partner funding l funding decision-making l decision-making   Public l Public user/customer l user/customer sponsoring l sponsoring decision-making l decision-making   EUROPEAN TRENDS

HIGHER EDUCATION l CHARACTERISTIC STRUCTURE University l University QUALITY ASSURANCE position owner l owner l provider Government l Government partner l partner Public l Public user/customer l user/customer Quality Assurance Body l Quality Assurance Body

PROGRAMME ACCREDITATION l POSITION l University owner l owner l provider Accreditation l Accreditation Commission Commission Programme Accreditation Public l Public user/customer l user/customer l political authority l professional authority Government l Government

PROGRAMME ACCREDITATION l ROLE l University owner l owner l provider Accreditation l Accreditation Commission Commission Programme Accreditation Public l Public user/customer l user/customer l political authority l professional authority Government l Government STATE guaranty l STATE guaranty PROFESSIONAL guaranty l PROFESSIONAL guaranty Responsibility l Responsibility transparency l transparency accountability l accountability

PROGRAMME ACCREDITATION l MECHANISM l University owner l owner l provider Accreditation l Accreditation Commission Commission Public l Public user/customer l user/customer l political authority l professional body Government l Government STATE guaranty l STATE guaranty PROFESSIONAL guaranty l PROFESSIONAL guaranty PROPOSAL (dossier) DIPLOMA (quality value) LICENCE (accreditation) DECISION (proposal) l advisory body

PROGRAMME ACCREDITATION l PRACTICE l University owner l owner l provider Accreditation l Accreditation Commission Commission Public l Public user/customer l user/customer l political authority l professional body Government l Government DIPLOMA (quality value) DECISION (proposal) l advisory body CRITERIA Working Groups LICENCE (accreditation) PROPOSAL (dossier)

PROGRAMME ACCREDITATION l RESULTS l University Public l Public user/customer l user/customer l political authority Government l Government STATE guaranty l STATE guaranty PROFESSIONAL guaranty l PROFESSIONAL guaranty PROPOSAL (dossier) DECISION (proposal ) ≥ 2000 Accredited study programmes Job Licence DIPLOMA (quality value) l OVERBURDENED! LICENCE (accreditation) Accreditation l Accreditation Commission Commission l professional body

HHHHEIs are able succesfully adapt to their particular situation in the country and the national environment; QQQQAS is a long term game (years) together with the development of a new institutional policy; SSSStrong demand for enough tools for the academic quality monitoring PROGRAMME ACCREDITATION QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM l hl hl hl help not punishment ! l sl sl sl simple, transparent, out of bureaucracy ! l dl dl dl dissemination of results and their changes ! l ql ql ql quality enhancement must be assured ! l al al al avoid diversity - must be uniform! l What lessons can be learn?

is there a vision?

opportunities and constraints for HE

not competing in the learning society...

competing in the learning society...

competing in the learning society...

Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan (1651) “If we acknowledge that universities represent sources of civil and moral teaching for preachers and country nobility to draw their strength from it and then spread it among people, great care should be paid to keeping these sources clean, neither muddied by godless politicians nor bewitched by bad ghosts.”