1. QUALITY ASSURANCE IN ESTONIA: EVALUATION OF ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES Workshop: Boosting quality: International Credential Evaluation and Higher Education Quality Assessment in SSH (PHOENIX) Bishkek, 13-14 April 2006 TIIT LAASBERG

2. NEED FOR ACCREDITATION: Rapid changes in Estonian HE in the beginning of 90s Universities, strictly regulated by the state before, started to operate relatively autonomously Increasing number of private institutions

3. LAWS AND REGULATIONS: Main principles were laid out 1994 to 1995 Law on Universities was adopted 1995 and amended 1996 State-recognized diplomas were introduced Universities and curricula have to be assessed every seven years Procedures for accreditation were written up

4. QUALITY ASSESSMENT CENTER: Founded on September 1, 1997, by the Estonian Ministry of Education Legally a part of the Archimedes Foundation Funded by the state Arranges accreditation of universities and their curricula in the country

5. Prepares documentation required by the Assessment Council: self-analysis reports, expert commission reports Arranges experts’ evaluation visits to schools Cooperates internationally with other assessment centers Advises and holds seminars on writing of self-analysis reports

6. QUALITY ASSURANCE COUNCIL: Established on June 13, 1995, by the decree of the Government of the Republic of Estonia Operates in accordance with Estonia’s Law on Universities Includes 12 representatives of research and development institutions, state foundations, and professional associations May not include university rectors, pro-rectors, or Quality Assessment Center staff Makes accreditation decisions based on expert evaluation reports Accreditation decisions must be approved by the Minister of Education

7. Discloses accreditation decisions Makes recommendations for bringing higher education standards into accordance with internationally approved educational standards Develops methods for assessing academic programmes at higher education institutions Makes recommendations based on accreditation decisions

8. Higher Education Quality Assurance System in Estonia

9. Accredited programmes in Estonia 1997-2005 (722)

10. Cost of the accreditation One expert per one week: - salary 1150 EUR - travel 600 EUR - accomodation 400 EUR - other 100 EUR 2250 EUR Four experts per one week: 9000 EUR

11. COMMENTS OF EXPERTS: Experts from different fields have made almost the same general comments about Estonian higher education

12. CURRICULA: Too intense, no time left for individual work Principles for the compilation of curricula require revision, they are currently based on traditions, ad hoc decisions BA, MA and PhD curricula are not always sufficiently inter-related Total duration of PhD studies (10 years) is too long, 9-8 would be reasonable

13. Too many small – volume subjects Not enough credit points have been given for research Number of students withdrawing, mostly non- academic reasons, is too high ORGANIZING STUDIES:

14. STUDY PROCESS: Too much emphasizes on lectures, focusing on the knowledge based on facts Number of lectures and study load is too heavy

15. TEACHING STAFF: Shortage of young academics Insufficient number of high-level publications

16. RESOURCES: Laboratories need modern equipment Libraries need more study material, especially scholarly and scientific journals

17. QUALITY ASSURANCE AND FEEDBACK: Internal QA system has to be introduced in HEI Poor contacts with graduates Small number of alumni organizations

18. COMPILATION OF SELF-ANALYSIS REPORTS: Requires improvement: self-evaluation report should be based on the SWOT analysis - strengths and projected remedies of the areas analyzed by universities would be clearly outlined

19. AFTER THE ACCREDITATION: Teaching methods have been changed Universities have updated their libraries, equipped computer classes, etc A process for regular self-assessment has been developed (SWOT analyzes) Expert reports have been used in writing universities´ development plan HE financial resources from the state have not increased

20. BENEFITS OF HE: Accreditation process was carried out only by international experts 3+2 system together with accreditation “woke up” Estonian HEI

21. International relations have helped to improve the quality of Estonian higher education (students’ and teaching staff exchanges), implementing one the main aims of Bologna declaration Accreditation results have been helpful for students to decide where to continue their studies. Accreditation results can be easily found from the internet

22. Accredited as human being Wow, what kind of great feeling !!