institutionalising quality in higher education in europe standards in action what is the quality...

Institutionalising Quality in Higher Education in Europe

Standards in Actionwww.bsieducation.org/standardsinaction

What is the quality provision in European cross-border higher education today?

Author:Don Osborn



The Need to Globilise Higher Education

• to answer the needs of employers for globalised recruits• to respond to EU policy in terms of the mobility of people

across member states• to exploit the full potential of cross-border university

partnerships



The Current Difficulties

• limited transparency and readability of qualifications making them not very portable across countries

• misinformation concerning some qualifications• unfair and unreliable recognition procedures across

countries



From Historical Differences

• Three types of university models:– the Humboldtian model (Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands)

• freedom of study and teaching

• independent research

• independent study

– the Napoleonic model (France & Spain)• heavily centralised

• an elitist approach (les grandes écoles)

– the Anglo-Saxon model (USA & UK)• the emphasis on the personal development of the student



Interpreting Quality• Bologna (June 1999) & the golden triangle of goals:

bachelor’s, master’s & doctorate

quality assurance & accreditation mechanisms

ECTS compatible credits



Interpreting Quality

• Quality assurance: what we are trying to do with a check that we’re actually doing it

• Quality enhancement: what those who use our systems say about their experience and how we amend our systems to make them better

• Accreditation: how we show outsiders that we are following quality assurance and quality enhancement



Accreditation

• getting it means that we have attained the minimum required level of quality

• it will not necessarily concentrate on our weaknesses



Quality Enhancement

• this shows how we’re improving things

• it will put forward the weaknesses in a system that we’re currently amending



The Link with Total Quality Management

• TQM is linked to customer satisfaction– but who is the customer in higher education?

• the student? – after all, he/she is paying

• the employer? – after all, he/she gets to use the finished product

– Can we talk of the raw material – the process of transformation – the finished product in higher education?



Total Quality Management

• It has little to do with accreditation because...

– in TQM, being good enough is not adequate

• we plan, teach, check, revise and test to see what our students may have missed



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• The European Higher Education Area

– the aims of the Lisbon Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region:

• through the joint declaration of European Ministers of Education in Bologna, June 19th, 1999

– to facilitate the recognition of qualifications across Europe

– to ensure that European education becomes a world quality reference



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• a study of the progress made in four countries since the

Bologna Declaration:• Sweden• the UK• France• Estonia• Greece



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• Sweden (39 HEIs)

– the stakeholders• the higher education institution (autonomy)

• the students (information)

• the Ministry of Education and Science (responsibility for HEIs)

• the National Agency for Higher Education (monitoring HE)

• the legal background– 1993 Higher Education Act– Higher Education Ordinance



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• Sweden

– 1999• undergraduate:

– three-year Bachelor degree– one year Master degree

• graduate:– four-year Ph.D.

• institutional quality audits every 6 years

• students’ role in curriculum and course design

• difficulties of comparing programmes



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• Sweden

– 2007 (from September)• undergraduate:

– three-year Bachelor degree– one year Master degree

• graduate:– four-year Ph.D.

• subject & programme audits (every 6 years)• thematic evaluations, e.g.

– internationalising universities– the role of universities in Swedish society

• students’ role still strong



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• The United Kingdom (126 universities with additional HEIs)

– the stakeholders:• the Quality Assurance Agency (to safeguard standards of education

& promote continual enhancement in quality)• Higher Education Funding Council (a separate council for England,

Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland) – to distribute public funding to universities and colleges– to monitor spending– to monitor quality in teaching– to provide guidance on good practice

• the government through the Minister of State for Higher Education & Lifelong Learning

• the university



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• The United Kingdom

– 1999• undergraduate:

– Bachelor’s over 3 years – Bachelor’s (Honours) over 4 years (3 in certain universities)

• graduate:– one year Master degree– 3-year full-time Ph D

• institutional audits from 2002 by the QAA every 5 years

• the difficulty of ensuring a response to the needs of employers



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• The United Kingdom

– 2007• revisions to institutional audit from 2006 to correspond to

European Standards and Guidelines for QA in HE

• students’ participation in institutional audit by a written report to the QAA

• still a disparity between Bachelor’s Honours degrees

• a highly centralised system encouraging quality enhancement

• strong link to university funding through the HEFC’s code of practice



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe

• France (85 universities, 3 universities of technology, «30 national polytechnic institutions, specialised schools of higher education)

– the stakeholders:• universities supervised by the ministry of higher education and

research

• grandes écoles under the responsibility of the ministry but mostly private (often divisions of chambers of commerce)

• National Council for Higher Education & Research (CNESER)

• National Evaluation Committee (CNE)

• Conference des Grandes Ecoles (two chapters)



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe

• France– 1999

• 1st cycle of studies to two-year higher education diplomas

• 2nd cycle : » year 1 to licence (bachelor’s)

» year 2 to Maïtrise

• 3rd cycle: one year to:» DEA (research masters)

» DESS (specialised masters) – equivalent to Grande Ecole diploma

» DEA followed by three-year doctorate



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• France

– 2007• harmonisation with Bologna

• three-year licence (bachelor’s)

• two further years to Master (equivalent Grande Ecole diploma)

• state approval of all institutional diplomas (universities & private schools)

• private schools looking more towards accreditation by international bodies (AMBA, EQUIS, AACSB)



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• Estonia (18 universities, 13 applied HEI’s, 17 vocational educational institutions)

– the stakeholders:• Estonian Ministry of Education

• Estonian HE Accreditation Centre

• Estonian HE Quality Assessment Council

• network of quality assurance committees and agencies from 14 CEE countries



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• Estonia

– 1999• reforms based on European & American QA systems

• undergraduate:– Bakalaureusekraad in 3 or 4 years

• graduate:– Magistrikraad after 5 years of HE– Doktorikraad after a further 4 years

• national accreditation system (since 1997) based on:– self evaluation– foreign peer review



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• Estonia

– 2007• more university places than national students, therefore

– looking at recruitment of foreign nationals

• institutional accreditation (since Universities Act 2002)– full– conditional

• programme accreditation

• transition to a 3 + 2 cycle from 1992



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• Greece (21 publicly-funded universities, 14 technical education institutes

& specialised academies)

– the stakeholders • the state (through the 1975 Constitution and through funding)

• Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs • the participants

– university faculty

– students



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• Greece

– 1999• state monopoly on HE

• Ptychio Penepistimion after 4 years

• Post-graduate Diploma of Specialisation after at least one further year

• faculty and administrators are full civil servants

• private HEI’s banned

• obligation of studies in the Greek language



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• Greece

– 2007• unrest due to suggested reforms to comply with Bologna• demonstrations in July 2006• feeling that HE qualifications are not answering employment needs• Lisbon Convention on Recognition of Qualifications still not signed• working groups set up since 2005 for correspondence to Bologna• government commitment to set up a national QA agency (requiring

modification to Constitution)• increase in private HEI’s offering foreign degrees



Quality Assurance and Accreditation Mechanisms in Europe• Conclusion

– variety in approach to QA in higher education in Europe:• Sweden

– broad range of participation in debate seeking consensus• UK

– strong centralised approach to QA strongly linked to funding• Estonia

– looking for best practices in QA from other countries• Greece

– continued desire of particpants to maintain national independence through the status quo

– suggesting:• difficulties (impossibility?) to establish one system by 2010

institutionalising quality in higher education in europe standards in action what is the quality...

Documents

institutionalising quality

europe standards

quality provision

quality enhancement

european education

european higher education

ministry of education

interpreting quality