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Quality Assurance in Higher Education

Flanders in a European Context

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Joke Claeys

Ghent UniversityDepartment of Educational AffairsDivision of Quality Management

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Contents

- Evolution of the notion of quality- The history of Quality Assurance in higher education- First generation of external QA- Accreditation and it’s consequences

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Quality has several definitions (Green, 1994)

- Excellence-‘Fitness for purpose’: ~ the aims of the institutions- Meet some basic standards- Efficacy of realising the aims- Meet the needs and expectations of the clients

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Quality as excellence

- Popular notion amongst professors

and chancellors,…

- Quality assurance (QA) is focused

upon the input

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Quality= fitness for purpose

- The notion is less absolute- Central issue: the aims of a

program/institution- QA is focused upon the processes

realising the aims- The function of improvement is the

most important

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Quality: meeting basic standards

- Reaction upon the relativism of the

preceding

- Basic standards have to be met

- Link with accreditation

- QA is focused upon the output

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Quality : Meet the needs and expectations of the clients

-The point of reference is outside the

institutions: students, stakeholders,

society- Quality: a means of satisfying

external expectations

- QA is focused upon the output

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History

- 80ties and first half of the 90ties:

transition from ‘excellence ‘ to

‘fitness for purpose’

- Second half of the 90ties: criticism;

introduction of ‘basic standards’

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QA in European Higher Education

- Before the 80ties: individual initiatives, no real general policy- Some historic factors:

- More students in higher education- Economic crisis; less governmental financing- Governments want to control the use of financing

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QA in European Higher Education

- External factors have exercised the

strongest influence- Pioneering countries: The United

Kingdom, The Netherlands, Denmark- Countries as Belgium followed these

models (esp. The Netherlands)

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Functions of QA in Education

- Improvement and warrant of quality: ‘peers’ evaluate the program and give recommendations- Accountability towards the government and the clients (students, parents, employers)- Regulation and adaptation of the educational system: QA indicators can influence rationalisation decisions,..

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QA has different subjects

- Research: exists in the Netherlands- A study program (e.g. physics); all institutions at the same time- A cluster of similar programs (future development)- A whole institution (e.g. EUA in Macedonia)

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Internal and external QA

- Internal: for use in the institution:

e.g. student questionnaires

- External: the final judgement on a

program is made by an external

commission

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QA in Flanders

Central element in the startup:

Decree on universities (June 12th, 1991)

Art 122 Imposes a continuous monitoring of the quality of education: internal and external QA are mentioned

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Realisations:

- Internal QA: student questionnaires

- External QA: visitation (peer

review): first generation

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External QA: Visitations (peer review)

- 8 year cycle- A panel of experts judges the program- Result: - a public report on all the important issues - a related score list (comparison between institutions is possible) - recommendations for improvement

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External QA: Visitations (peer review)

Phases in the process:1 .The program writes a self assessment report. Professors, assistant professors, students, alumni,… are all involved. A manual with guidelines is strictly followed.

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External QA: Visitations (peer review)

2. - A commission of experts is composed, on the proposal of the programs involved. They act on a completely independant base. - Experts in the subject matter; 5 persons, 1 president, 1 didactical expert

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External QA: Visitations (peer review)

3. The commission reads the self assessment report. 4. - Site visit: 2,5 days - meetings with professors, assistant professors, other personnel involved in education, students, alumni, study guidance,…

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External QA: Visitations (peer review)

5. The commission writes a report containing their evaluation of the program, recommendations, good practices,… The different programs are also compared.

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External QA: Visitations (peer review)

6. - The report is published and can be consulted by future students, newspapers, other institutions,… - The Minister of Education gets a report.7. The programs react upon the recommendations and can make adaptations to the study program.

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Accreditation: a second generation of external QA

Antecedents: societal evolutions- Internationalisation: cooperation; mobility of professors and students- Globalisation: a market for research and study programs emerges- Liberalisation: commercial suppliers can can organise education- Evolution towards a knowledge society

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Accreditation: definition

A formal, public judgement made by an independant body, based upon an

evaluation of quality, guaranteeing that basic standards are met

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Subjects in the self assessment, required for accreditation

1. Aims and objectives2. Program3. Personnel4. Infrastructure and services5. Internal quality assurance6. Results: level and output

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Internationalisation: Bologna

- BOLOGNA: (19/6/99), signed by 29 European countries- Goal: create a European space for higher education in order to enhance the employability and mobility of citizens and to increase the international competitiveness of European higher education

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Bologna: specific goals (1)

- adopt a system of easily readable and comparable degrees, (also through the implementation of the Diploma Suppl.)- adopt a system with 2 main cycles (undergraduate and graduate), with first degrees no shorter than 3 years and relevant to the labour market

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Bologna: specific goals (2)

- establish an system of credits (such as ECTS) also covering lifelong learning activities- promote European co-operation in quality assurance, (aiming at comparable criteria and methods)- promote mobility by overcoming legal recognition and administrative obstacles (for students and teachers)

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Realisations in the QA area

- ENQA: European Association for Quality

Assurance: ° 2000; www.enqa.net- Spreads information, ‘good practices’

about QA in higher education to

European quality agencies, authorities

and higher education institutions

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- EUA: European University

Association; www.eua.be/

had several projects about QA

procedures, QA culture, comparing

different countries- Accreditation is implemented in several

countries (e.g. Spain, The Netherlands,

Flanders, through new legislation)

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Functions of accreditation- Guarantee a certain basic quality of institutions or programs- Reinforce the existing forms of QA e.g. by strenghtening their sanctioning capacity- Create more standardisation of norms, procedures and criteria, to enhance comparability- Improve the public responsibility function of QA by giving transparant info to students, parents,…