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Quality Assurance in European Higher Education

Bologna Promoters Presentation Material


(to be adapted as needed)

Content of the Presentation

Quality assurance why?


From Industry to a Knowledge Society
Functions of QA
Institutional QA
External QA
Developing a QA Process
Policy Context
European Standards and Guidelines
Potential Outcomes
Tools for Success
Projects and initiatives in European QA

What is QA?

A tool for addressing the complexities of European higher


education
A relative concept, based on institutional mission and goals
Closely related to questions of ideology and power (who defines
quality in which way, accountability aspects etc.)
In the best interest of students, employers and society in
general, who should also be involved in the QA process
A dynamic, ongoing process
Potentially a bureaucratic burden, to be kept to a minimum
Orientation towards the future

Why QA? A Multitude of Purposes


Fitness for purpose
Compliance (zero error or deviation)
Satisfaction of students and parents
Excellence
Value for money
Transformation (process of changing the student)
Enhancement (process of changing the university)
Control (punitive/rewarding process of QA)
Public information, reassurance, confidence
Ranking
Accountability
International acceptability
Resource allocation
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Short History of QA in European Higher


Education
General:

Quality in HE and Research has always been an issue.

Pre-1980s:

Post-1980s:

Teaching, learning, research and


services are hardly measures or
assessed in formal processes.

International discussions affirming


the importance of safeguarding
quality of higher education: UNESCO,
OECD, INQAAHE

Quality notion in HE based on


reputation of individual professors
and departments of universities.

Based on similar principles, many


unique national and institutional QA
approaches were developed.

Today:
Europe-wide efforts to enhance QA transparency, consistency and
commonality to meet the needs of student mobility and cross-border
cooperation of universities generated by internationalisation trends.
Joint European Standards and Guidelines, peer review process for
legitimating QA agencies, and establishment of a Register of QA agencies.
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From product assessment


Peer approval and national authorities felt to no longer be enough to assure
quality of growing mass education.
Led to formalised processes for assessing the quality of higher education,
particularly the teaching and learning aspects.
First quality assurance concepts were borrowed from industrial production
processes, focusing on assessment of products, measurable outcomes by
employing bottom-line standards.
HE institutions develop QA processes and enhance awareness for the need of
more institutionalised ways of quality assessment

But: QA processes not fully geared towards


1. specific nature & mission of HE institutions (social
interaction in learning and research, resulting not
necessarily in products or a clear-cut assessable
outcomes)
2. social and economic change (increasingly knowledge6
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based)

to institutional Quality Culture in a


Knowledge-based
Society
Good QA of higher education needs to consider not only
outcomes but also the context and the interaction of
players
Specifically relationships between:
The mission goals of the university;
Researcher, teachers, students and administrative staff;
The framework of the conditions set by the university
environment in its unique political, social and
economic situation.
Quality assurance as a joint shared effort of all members
of the institution = Quality Culture
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Quality Culture
A shared culture that values quality, not only
managerial processes.
Not just a task of the QA specialist or the QA unit, but
the collective attitude directing the actions of all
stakeholders.
Includes internal reviews that are coherent with its own
mission, objectives, and academic and organisational
values.
An important aspect of maintaining a balance between
autonomy and uniqueness with accountability.

Functions of QA

QA has two main functions:


Quality enhancement: the maintenance and continual
enhancement of teaching, learning and research, and of
the entire institutional framework Internal QA
..with regards to the outside world External QA
Accountability: the demonstration of quality to
external stakeholders (governments, students, parents,
employers, society) for different reasons, including legal
requirements and promotion of the university.
External QA
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Aspects of Institutional QA
Internal:
What: review processes and implementation of new strategies fit to
the mission goals, profile and context of a university
Why:
for the enhancement of the overall performance of the
institution and all its parts and elements, and the promotion of
creativity and innovation
How:
activated by a dynamic quality culture shared values and
attitudes, staff identification with the university as a community of
learning, etc.

External:
What: either voluntary or compulsory review/evaluation/audit by an
external QA review body
Why:
accountability and validation, and trust building between
the institution and the outside world
How:
often motivated by laws or requirements of funding
agencies
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Developing a QA process
Quality Perspectives: A QA process can focus on
Output:

Examine the outcomes of the institutions activities:


teaching, research, goal achievement etc.
Associated with excellence, fitness-for-purpose,
effectiveness.
Input: Tallying of factors like equipment, staffing, funding etc.
Needs to be related to output.

Process: The activities that lead to the desired outcomes,

such as governance structures, decision-making processes or


administrative procedures.

In order to achieve a sensible concept of quality,


a QA process may need to consider all three
aspects
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Developing a QA Process contd


Selecting a focus:

Selecting an
approach:

Institutional
Programme
Accreditation
Smaller units like
Evaluation
research,
services,
Audit
faculty
Review
Process, i.e. the
Benchmarking
institutional QA system itself
Assessment
A combination of the
Caution:
above
1) These processes are not usually employed in their pure
forms anymore, but in combination.

2) The terms can mean different things in different places.

Accreditation and Evaluation are the most


commonly used methods for external QA at the
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level of institutions and
programmes.

Accreditation and Evaluation:


Different in process and purpose
Accreditation

Evaluation

formalised decision by an
recognised authority (accreditation
agency) as to whether an institution
of higher education or a programme
conforms to certain defined minimum
standards.

Evaluation aims at supporting the


institutions or programmes efforts
towards development and
improvement

Predefined consequences of a
formal nature: authorisation to run a
programme or institution, or: no
accreditation/ closure
Yes/No decision in some cases
Shared
conditionalfeatures:
Yes

Aims at increasing strategic


capacity for change and internal
quality culture
Fitness-for-purpose rationale
Recommendations for
enhancement, change, reorientation

self-evaluation/documentation submitted by institution or programme


external assessment by peers

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Accreditation and Evaluation:


Examples for mixed procedures
Increasingly, a methodological mix can be observed:
A fitness-for-purpose approach would consider probably
intrinsically - a minimum standard, i.e. what is
appropriate of an institution of this mission and standing.
a standard-based approach would have to consider
fitness-for-purpose, i.e. in addition to national standards,
the specific situation and mission of the institute
Evaluation can be linked to a formalized decision and
concrete obligations and sanctions
Accreditation can recommend improvement,

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Programme, institution or process?


Programme

Institution, Process

appear as the more thorough


Based on the ability of the
approach, as it delivers a
institute to saveguard the
judgment or
quality of its parts
recommendations on the
Easier to facilitate
quality of the one specific
Benefits all parts of the
programme.
institution
in practice, it implies
considerable costs and
Can not guarantee the quality
workload (periodicity,
of all programmes and
preparation of selfservices
assessment report etc.)
Institutional quality may limit A QA process may need to
combine these approaches
programme performance

according to national and


15 institutional requirements
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Policy context
Internationalisation/globalisation:

Increased competition, growing global higher education


market, debate on trade in educational services (GATS)

Bologna Process:

46 European Countries looking for convergence through common


structures and tools - focus on teaching and learning

Lisbon Strategy:

27 European Union Member States with ambitious


economic and social goals focus on research and wider
societal transformation process

Demand for quality enhancement, and more


convergence, cooperation and exchange in QA
processes
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Policy context: Increasing importance of QA


at European level
European Union Council Recommendation 24 September, 1998
Evaluation and improvement is a good thing
Bologna Declaration, 1999
More European cooperation in QA
Prague Communiqu, 2001
Quality is key to the success of the EHEA
Berlin Communiqu, 2003
Quality moves to the top of the agenda
The responsibilities of HEIs are acknowledged

Bologna
Process
Ministerial
Meetings

Bergen Communiqu, 2005


Systematic introduction of internal QA directly correlation to
external QA
European Standards and Guidelines
London Communiqu, 2007
Register of European Higher Education Quality Assurance Agencies
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Tools for Success: Post-Bergen 2005


European Standards and Guidelines for QA

To be understood as joint principles to be considered during the


development of national and institutional QA procedures.

Peer revies of QA agencies

All QA agencies must be recognised by a competent public


authority in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), as well as
be independent in operation and decision from third parties.

European Register of QA agencies (tbc 2007)

Instrument to assure and improve quality of QA agencies, and to


promote mutual trust between them, as well as provide a list of
reliable agencies institutions and governments can choose from.

European Forum for QA

European-level discussions about QA involving all constituencies and


stakeholders.
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Bergen 2005: European Standards and


Guidelines
What they are:

What they are not:

Generic, not specific,


principles of what should be
done
A process-neutral source of
assistance and guidance

Prescriptive
Detailed procedures
A European quality
assurance system

Why they are important:


Agreed through the Bologna Process
Stocktaking through the Bologna Process
Inter-relationship between internal, external QA and QA
agency
Potential for more transparency, cooperation and exchange
at European level
international visibility of European HE
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London 2007: European Quality Register

Register of European and also international QA agencies


Promote the European Standards and Guidelines, in
particular regarding QA agencies (peer review of agencies,
impartiality etc.)
Purpose: to allow stakeholders and the general public
open access to objective information about trustworthy QA
agencies that are working in line with the ESG.
It will enhance confidence in HE in the EHEA and beyond,
and facilitate the mutual recognition of QA and
accreditation decisions.
Voluntary, self-financing, independent and transparent.
The register will be the responsibility of the main
stakeholders: HEIs, students, QA agencies and social
partners.
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London 2007: Who does the Register?

The E4 Group
European University
Association (EUA)

ENQA

European Student Union


(ESU - formerly ESIB)
European University
Colleges (EURASHE)

ESU

European Association for


Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ENQA)

EUA

Tasked by the European


Ministers to develop and
implement the Register

EURASHE
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Projects and Initiatives in European QA

The Institutional Evaluation Programme


Quality Culture Project
Creativity Project
Transnational European Evaluation Project I and II (TEEP)
Quality Procedures in European Higher Education
Quality Convergence Study Project
European Masters New Evaluation Methodolgy (EMNEM)
Tuning European Higher Education
European Quality Labels
E-xcellence

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