Akkreditierungsrat

The German System of Accreditation

Franz BörschAccreditation Council Office

www.akkreditierungsrat.de

SYSTEM

OBJECTIVES

STANDARDS

PROCEDURE

BOLOGNA

ECA

The German System of Accreditation

Association of Universities and other Higher Education Institutions / Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs

Office

Accreditation Council

1. Four representatives from higher education institutions2. Four Länder representatives3. Five representatives from among professional practitioners4. Two students5. Two international representatives

appoint appoint

Agencies accredits

accredit

Programs

Agencies

accredit

SYSTEM

OBJECTIVES

STANDARDS

ProgramsPROCEDURE

BOLOGNA

ECA

SYSTEM

OBJECTIVES

STANDARDS

PROCEDURE

BOLOGNA

ECA

Accreditation: Standards and Criteria

1. quality requirements for accrediting study programs

criteria

2. quality requirements for accrediting agencies

standards

The Objectives of Accreditation

Assuring Quality

minimum requirements in terms of subject and content and

in terms of its professional relevance ...

Creating Transparency

standards, definition of the key competencies (output), publication of the quality policies / database on

AR-website ...

Offering Diversity

peer review, no detailed catalogues of criteria, creative scope for the HEI ...

Improving Mobility

mutual recognition of the national QA systems / the academic qualifications ...

SYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES

PROCEDURE

BOLOGNA

ECA

The Basic Standards: Accrediting AgenciesSYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES Independence of higher education institutions as well as of business, industry and professional associations

Participation of HEI and representatives of professional practice in decision making

Operation on the basis of the principles of transparency, efficiency and economy, not profit-oriented

Performance of accreditation for all types of higher education institutions and for several disciplines

National and international competence

Documentation of evaluation criteria and standards as well as staff qualifications

Internal measures of quality control and suitable practices of documentation and information

PROCEDURE

BOLOGNA

ECA

The Criteria: Accrediting ProgramsSYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES Quality and international compatibility

Requirements in respect of the quality and international compatibility of the curriculum

Employability

The professional qualification of graduates on the basis of a consistent and coherent program

Staff resources

Details of the staff resources for the program within the HEI,

composition of staff

Physical facilities

Availability of premises, equipment and other physical

facilities (lecture halls, seminar rooms, laboratories, library)

PROCEDURE

BOLOGNA

ECA

SYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES

PROCEDURE

BOLOGNA

ECA

Information/Criteria: Distance Learning Programs

Coherence of media application and learning outcomes

Usability and design of the software

Percentage of face-to-face-teaching modules (if intended)

media competencies

Learning-Management-Systems

Counselling practices

Tutorial practices

Constant access to technology

Appropriate teaching facilities

Opportunities for individual practice

The multi-phased Process of Accreditation

1. step: presentationcomposition of the application documents, sending in the application documents to an accreditation agency

2. step: site visithearing, interview of the applicants by the expert group,discussion evaluation report including the vote of the peers

3. step: decision of the Accreditation Commissionwith reference to the evaluation report of the peer group thecommission decides whether a) the program is accreditedb) the program is accredited with conditionsc) the accreditation is denied

4. step: publication of the decission on AR-website

PROCEDURE

SYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES

BOLOGNA

ECA

QA and Bologna Process

BOLOGNA

PROCEDURE

SYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES

Communiqué of the Conference of Ministers responsible

for Higher Education in Berlin on 19 September 2003:

“The quality of higher education has proven to be at the

heart of the setting up of a European Higher Education

Area. Ministers commit themselves to supporting further

development of quality assurance at institutional, national

and European level. They stress the need to develop

mutually shared criteria and methodologies on quality

assurance.”

ECA

BOLOGNA

PROCEDURE

SYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES

International Networks

ARENQA:

Commonguidelines

INQA-HEE

Mutualrecognition:qualifications

ZAB / ENIC/NARIC

Mutualrecognition:procedures

D-A-CH, ECA, ...

Development of subject-orientedstandards(EQUAL, EQUIS,Tuning Project)

Development ofgeneric qualitystandards(JQI, Dublin De-scriptors, ECTS)

network

Agencies

Agencies

network

ECA

Mutual Recognition - Central Questions

What are the generic quality criteria for awarding Bachelor's or Master's degrees? Qualification framework

Which input and process oriented quality criteria (like the design of curricula, objectives of programmes, staff resources, etc) have to be taken into consideration? Code of good practice

What are the standards for the accreditation procedures and how the internal quality assurance measures of accreditation organizations have to be defined? Code of good practice

BOLOGNA

PROCEDURE

SYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES

ECA

BOLOGNA

PROCEDURE

SYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES

International Networks

ARENQA:

Commonguidelines

INQA-HEE

Mutualrecognition:qualifications

ZAB / ENIC/NARIC

Mutualrecognition:procedures

D-A-CH, ECA, ...

Development of subject-orientedstandards(EQUAL, EQUIS,Tuning Project)

Development ofgeneric qualitystandards(JQI, Dublin De-scriptors, ECTS)

network

Agencies

Agencies

network

ECA

ECA: Ultimate Aim and Instuments

“The ultimate aim of the European Consortium for Accreditation in HE is to achieve mutual recognition of accreditation decisions among the participating countries before the end of 2007.”

The key elements or instruments of the agreement of co-operation are:

1. A code of good practice, that defines the necessary requirements for accreditation organisations

2. A qualification framework, that provides quality criteria for awarding Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral degrees

3. A Publication format (accreditation report supplement), that serves to enhance the transparency of the quality of programmes or institutions

4. Selection criteria for external experts, that takes into account the key importance of the peer-review in accreditation procedures.

BOLOGNA

ECA

PROCEDURE

SYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES

ECA: The Code of Good Practice

The Code defines necessary requirements for accreditation

organizations

The Code serves to support the internal quality assurance

policies of an accreditation organization

The Code shall not lead to predominance of one single

point of view, but should promote “good practices”

The Code should be continuously updated to conform to

the current international “state of the art of good practices”

BOLOGNA

ECA

PROCEDURE

SYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES

Akkreditierungsrat

www.akkreditierungsrat.de

BOLOGNA

ECA

PROCEDURE

SYSTEM

STANDARDS

OBJECTIVES