QUALITY ASSURANCE IN BULGARIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

Prof. Anastas Gerdjikov

Sofia University

March 30, 2012

Bulgarian Higher Education System

Higher Education Institutions in Bulgaria by form of ownership:

• Public (State) higher education institutions – 37;

• Private higher education institutions – 14.

Higher Education Institutions in Bulgaria by type:

• Universities – 30;

• Specialised higher education institutions – 14;

• Colleges – 7.

Legal Framework of the Bulgarian Higher Education Reform

1. The Higher Education Act – adopted in 1995.

2. The Act for the Development of Academic staff – adopted in 2010.

3. Ordinance on the state requirements for the acquisition of higher education and educational qualification degrees.

4. Classifier of the Fields of Higher Education and the professional branches.

5. Ordinance for the implementation of a system for credit accumulation and transfer within the higher education institutions.

6. Regulations on the Activity of the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency.

Legal Framework of the Bulgarian Higher Education Reform

The Higher Education Act (1995)

– combined the principles of academic independence with those of greater accountability;

– introducted state tuition fees instead of paid-for higher education;

– Introduced accreditation;

– Introduced 3 stages in Higher Education System (Bachelor, Master, Doctor).

Quality Assurance

Amendments to the Higher Education Act in 1999 and 2004:

• ECTS adopted;

• New regulation of the external assessment;

• Internal quality systems introduced.

Internal Systems of Assessment and Maintenance of the Quality

Objective of the system:To control, maintain and manage the quality of education in the offered fields of higher education and professional branches, as well as of the academic staff

There are operating systems for:• assessing and maintaining the quality of training of students and

doctoral students;• assessing and maintaining the quality of a faculty;• self-assessment as part of the requirements for external institutional

and programme accreditation;• monitoring of employment of graduates;• research, analysis and evaluation of students and post-graduate

students' views;• systems for credit transfer and distance learning.

External Evaluation and Accreditation

Accreditation:

Acknowledgement by the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency of the right of the higher education institutions to give higher education.

Objective:

To stimulate the higher education institutions to develop their potential and to improve and maintain the quality of the offered education.

External Evaluation and Accreditation

National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency (NEAA)

• Established in 1996

• Co-operation with other European agencies:

– Central and Eastern Europe Agencies for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (CEEN);

– European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA).

The National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency

The National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency monitors the ability of institutions, their main units and branches to provide good quality of education and scientific research through their internal quality assurance systems.

NEAA helps to improve the quality of higher education by the periodic institutional and program evaluation and accreditation of higher education institutions in Bulgaria, by evaluating the projects for opening new HEIs and basic units, as well as post-accreditation monitoring and control.

NEAA’s Main Functions

• To evaluate and award accreditation to legally established higher education institutions;

NEAA has also the right to propose changes in the legal status of institutions, following a negative accreditation assessment.

• To evaluate the higher education institutions’ study programs.

NEAA has the right to withdraw state recognition for particular programs that do not satisfy the requirements with respect to curricula, ácademic staff, physical infrastructure, etc.

NEAA’s Structure

• Chairman;

• Accreditation Council – 11 members;

• 9 Standing Committees – up to seven members:

– Education Science– Human Sciences and Arts– Law– Economics– Natural Sciences and Mathematics– Technical Sciences– Healthcare and Sports– Agrarian Sciences– Veterinary science

• Committee on post-accreditation monitoring

Four Step Process of Evaluation and Accreditation

• Self-assessment based on the criteria list of the NEAA;

• External evaluation by a site visit by the expert team;

• A summarizing report of the standing committee;

• A decision of the Accreditation Council or the relevant Standing committee depending on the type of evaluation and accreditation procedure.

Criteria List

Four main characteristics of the higher education institutions:

• educational activities;

• research;

• management of the institution and functioning of the internal system for quality assurance;

• competitiveness of the institution.

Accreditation Procedures

1. Institutional accreditation;

2. Programme accreditation of:

– professional branches;

– the specialities from the regulated professions;– doctoral programs.

3. Assessment of a project for opening a higher education institution;

4. Assessment of a project for transformation of a higher education institution;

5. Assessment of a project for opening of basic unit and/or branch;

6. Assessment of a project for opening of:

– professional branch;

– speciality from the regulated professions.

Post-accreditation Monitoring and Control.

Institutional accreditation

• Implemention of the organisation’s mission and objectives;• Effectiveness with which the higher education institution controls,

maintains and improves the quality of education;• The effectiveness of:

– the internal system for assessment and maintenance of the quality of the education;– the procedures for approval, monitoring and updating of the study plans and programmes;– the procedures following previous accreditations and other external reviews of the quality;– the overall institutional management and control;– the management of the ECTS system;– the management of the co-operation with other HEIs;– the maintenance, management and improvement of the facilities and learning resources;– the research activity of the academic staff and the involvement of students in it.

Programme Accreditation

Subject of assessment at the programme accreditation are:

1. Structure, design and content of curricula;

2. Academic staff profile and qualification;

3. Learning resources;

4. Teaching methods and assessment of student achievements;

5. The quality management;

6. The research activity of teaching staff and students.

Problems with the Evaluation and Accreditation Activity

• Formal attitude of the expert teams;

• Poor inclusion of foreign experts in the expert teams;

• A ten grade system had to replace the former four grade system;

• Criteria needed improvement;

• Need to combine institutional and programme accreditation.

Paradigm Change

• The focus of institutional accreditation shifted from conformity with the law to internal quality assurance and quality enhancement arrangements set by the institution.

• In programme accreditation, the evaluation of student learning experience is in focus, rather than compliance with the uniform state requirements, designed in a prescriptive form of national curricula.

• Responsibility for quality lies within the HEIs.

Lessons Learned

• The implementation of Bergen standards implies a level of operational autonomy of both HEIs and the Agency in order to achieve good results.

• External QA procedures used by the Agency can foster internal efforts to improve quality.

• Improved quality leads to better employability of graduates.

Thank you for your attention!