Student involvement in the work of ENQA and of its member agencies INQAAHE conference in Abu Dhabi, 31 March - 2 April 2009 Emmi Helle Secretary General ENQA

ENQA network in 2000, association in 2004 umbrella NGO for European QA agencies 48 Members 23 Associates and Affiliates organisational structure: Board, General Assembly, Secretariat first round of external reviews of ENQA member agencies by 2010

The ”ESG” the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG, Helsinki, 2005) ESU and the other E4 group partners (EUA, EURASHE) consulted during the drafting process main framework for QA in the EHEA membership criteria of ENQA entry criteria for EQAR listing students as a key stakeholder group students’ interests at the forefront of the external QA

ESG continued… Part 1: the HEIs should have a publicly available quality policy statement, which explains how the students are involved in the internal quality assurance of HEIs (policy & practice) Part 2: involvement of students in the external QA procedures to which the HEIs are subject Part 3: involvement of students in the external QA procedures to which the quality assurance agencies are subject

Bologna Process stocktaking on QA five indicators on student involvement in all 46 signatory countries: ▸ in govenance of the QA bodies ▸ in external reviews of HEIs/programmes ▸ in consultation during external reviews ▸ in internal QA processes (of HEIs) ▸ in preparation of SER’s (of HEIs)

Experiences from ENQA: reviews of members a stakeholder approach, including a student member in the review team - a nomination is asked from ESU student member has same responsibilities and expectations as the other team members same briefing and fee as the other team members students have not yet functioned as chairs or secretaries of the teams

Experiences from the ENQA member agencies (Quality Procedures Report 2008) in 53% of cases students have a formal role in the specification of processes and criteria for the external QA by the HEIs in 71.7% of cases students are members of the self-evaluation teams of the HEIs in 93.3% of cases students are interviewed during the site visits to HEIs by the agencies in 29% of cases students may suggest/ nominate potential members of the external expert panels used by the agency in 49% of cases students’ have a role in the agencies’ decision-making processes

Benefits of Student Involvement for Students a good way to use and develop critical thinking and analythical skills a valuable addition to the CV especially when thinking about the university career economical advantage (fee)

Benefits of Student Involvement for ENQA and its members advantage of a partnership approach, also encouraged by the Bologna Process student is at the heart of the of the learning process transparency new, fresh perspective straightforwardness and critical thinking of the students

Challenges of student involvement from the perspective of the students time constraints workload

Challenges from the perspective of ENQA and the member agencies in some countries, profound legal and cultural changes are required in order to allow student involvement cultural aspects are the most difficult to change training of students in a case where the time constraints for them are high with ESU: the chairperson, the Board and the Committee on EHEA change on a yearly basis

In conclusion student involvement in quality assurance in higher education has improved in a significant manner (recognised also by the ”Bologna with Students’ eyes”, 2007) QA agencies have been satisfied with students that have been on the review panels of HEIs satisfaction with the student members of the teams of agency reviews.