emmc: course quality assurance and evaluation

Quality assurance and evaluation 02.02.2012 FM 1

EUROAQUAE

EuroAquae

Hydro-Informatics and

Water Management

by Frank Molkenthin

Course Director at BTU Cottbus, Germany

Erasmus Mundus MSc Course:


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Outline

• Hydroinformatics – brief description

• EuroAquae

Erasmus Mundus Master course programme

• QA-Concept and Activities

• Conclusion

• Questions ?

Quality Assurance and Evaluation


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Education, Research and Profession in

Hydroinformatics

Part 1


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A basic discipline of hydroengineering: Hydroinformatics deals with the beneficial application of information and communication technology (ICT) to support the sustainable development and management of the aquatic environment. In its core Hydroinformatics concerns the modelling of water related information contained or generated by simulation of physical and environmental processes of nature as well as by processes of engineering work in consultancy and administration.

Hydroinformatics


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Hydroinformatics


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Example: Flood Management


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Examples: Application Domains

• river engineering and management

• climate change impacts on watersheds

• coastal engineering

• urban water supply and water treatments

• storm water management

• irrigation and drainage

• groundwater management, …

Hydroinformatics


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Master Course Programme

EuroAquae

Part 2


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History of EuroAquae

• European Thematic Network

"ETNET-WATER” (1996-2003)

• Erasmus Mundus I application in 2004

• selected in 2004 and starting in Sep 2004

• Erasmus Mundus II application in 2009

• selected in 2009 for 2009 - 2013

• in Sep 2012 generation 9 will start

EuroAquae: EMMC


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Joint Degree by five European universities

EuroAquae: Core Partner


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• Universidad Nacional del Litoral (AR)

• ETH Zürich (CH)

• EPFL Lausanne (CH)

• Indian Institute of Techn. Madras (IND)

• National University of Singapore (SIN)

• University of Incheon (KR)

Third Country Universities


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• World Meteorological

Organization - WMO

• Suez Environment

• Lyonnaise des Eaux

• Centre Int. de Recherche

Sur l’Eau&l’Environnement

• Veolia Environment

• Electricité de France

• SOGREAH

• Capita Symonds

• HR Wallingford

• Wallingford Software Ltd.

• Halcrow Group Ltd

• Amga Foundation

• Iride Aqua Gas

• Danish Hydraulics Institute

• Sociedad General de Aguas

de Barcelona

• CETaqua

• Kisters France

• DHI Eau & Environment

• …

Associated Members


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Structure of the Programme


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Synergy Effects

• EMJD – in preparation (2011: category C)

• HydroAsia, HydroLatinAmerica,

HydroRussia, HydroIndia

• EuroKorea Hydroinformatics

• EU projects: Corfu, eLeanor

• EAAA: EuroAquae Alumni Association

Add-On Activities


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Evaluation Items

• semester 1, 2, 3 and 4

• joint courses (HydroWeb, HydroEurope)

• student mobility

• teacher mobility

• interaction with profession and research

• success of alumni's on the “market”

Course Components


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EuroAquae

Quality Assurance and Evaluation

Part 3


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Quality Assurance

• systematic monitoring and check of the

functioning of the programme

(process quality control)

Quality Evaluation

• systematic monitoring and check of the

outcome of the programme

(product quality control)

Terms used in EuroAquae


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Implementation Levels

• local level (university)

• national level (accreditation agencies)

• European level (EMQA, ENQA, TEEP)

• internal level (EuroAquae)

Quality Assurance & Evaluation


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Concept and Contractual Base

• Memorandum of Agreement (2004, 2009)

• two external experts for QA Jean Cunge (professional)

Andre Van der Beken (academic)

• QA-Handbook (2004, 2006, 2011) approved by Management Board



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Internal Implementation

• The aims of the internal evaluation are the

general quality assessment and the measurement

of the degree of satisfaction by all stakeholders

of EuroAquae. In particular, QA will be directed

towards the evaluation of the quality of the

programme of EuroAquae as “excellence” and the

quality as the fulfillment of the “expectations” of

the stakeholders.

(reference: QA-Handbook EuroAquae)



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Structure

• Introduction

• Procedures

• Calendar

• Stakeholders

• Questionnaires

QA Handbook


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Stakeholders

• Students (S)

• Teaching Staff (T)

• Academic Tutors (AT)

• Institutional Tutors (IT)

• the Contractors (C) - the partner universities

• the End-Users (E) - present and potential future

employers of the students and other Academia

QA Handbook


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• SCHEME A (expectations, preconditions, environment) evaluation by the stakeholders S, T & C

through a self-assessment procedure

• �SCHEME B (marketing, regulations) evaluation by the external experts (EE)

of the published information about the programme

• �SCHEME C (semester 1-4) evaluation by the EE through formal questionnaires

to stakeholders S, T , AT and IT

• �SCHEME D (outcome) evaluation of adequacy between the course and the demands,

both professional and academic end-users E

Fourfold Scheme


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Example Questionnaire


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Annual Reports

• Example 2008

• positive aspects

• main deficiencies

QA - Outcome


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Actions due to QA results

• several local improvements

• preparation material for beginners “EA-package”

• improvement in administrative coordination

among universities

• harmonisation of course content

• updating of the QA process itself

• …

QA - Outcome


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Harmonization of Semester 1

• specification of course content

• teacher meeting

• preconditions for semester 2 & 3

• comparison of lecture notes

• MockUp test begin of semester 2 and 3

Quality Improvement Activities


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Harmonization of Semester 1



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Updating of the QA process (2011)

• repetition of questionnaires

• established structured and procedures



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EuroAquae – Outcome

• EAAA (EuroAquae Alumni Association)

• associated members

• semester 4

master thesis in research and practise

• number of PhD students and PhD degrees

• professional career of alumni’s

• EuroAquae networking

Quality Evaluation


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Side Effects, Informal Indicators of Quality

• social networks –>

corporate identity EuroAquae

• Add-on activities extension and export of ideas -> good practise example

• number of applications for scholarships

• number of students without scholarship

• …



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EuroAquae – European Level

• EMQA (http://www.emqa.eu), 2009 Erasmus Mundus Quality Assurance for International Higher Educations

Courses (21 EM courses in 2008, 2009 and 2010)

Handbooks, Examples for Good Practise • Quality of Teaching and Learning (QATL)

• Facilities, Logistics and Finance (FLAF)

• Quality of Leadership across Institutions (QUIL)

• Joined-up Practice and Integration (JUPI)



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EuroAquae – European Level

• ENQA (http://www.enqa.eu) European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education

Members: national accreditation agencies

• TEEP II (2005, 2006) Transnational European Evaluation Project II

three course programmes -> EuroAquae



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Personal Experiences

-> QA is a on-going challenging process

• updating by local, national changes

Problems and Bottlenecks

• duplication of questionnaires local, national, European, internal level

• different generation of students fashions and trends

• local boundary conditions (partner universities)

Conclusion


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Conclusion

• graphics is nice,

but physics is wrong

• requires high effort,

but pays off

• a never ending story

QA in EM Master Courses


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Questions ?

emmc: course quality assurance and evaluation

Education

evaluation fm

internal evaluation

general quality assessment

programme of euroaquae

stakeholders of euroaquae

qahandbook euroaquae02

euroaquae alumni association02

core hydroinformatics