quality assurance: role, responsibilities, and means of public authorities, with a view towards...
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Quality Assurance: Role, Responsibilities, and Means of
Public Authorities, with a view towards
Implications for Governance of Insitutions and Systems
Council of Europe Higher Education Forum: Legitimacy of Quality Assurance in Higher Education – The Role of Public Authorities and Institutions
Strasbourg, 19 – 20 September 2006
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kohler, Greifswald (Germany)
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I. The Topic – Approaches: Items to consider Prime Tasks: Identify• the object:
what is ‘quality assurance’ of which concrete objects;• the agent:
who are, or could be seen as, ‘public authorities’;• the action and the objective:
how, and why are roles, responsibilities, and means – de facto or optimally – attributed, shared, and used by public authorities.
Subsequent Challenge: Consider• implications for governance of institutions and of systems
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Scope/Expected outcome
• Asking Questions, Defining the Issues
• Mapping, Systematizing
• Methodology of Validating Answers
• Not: Providing ‚Blueprint‘ Answers
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II. The Object in Focus: Quality Assurance
1. What:
- Possible Objects
(a) Staff
(b) Programmes
(aa) Concrete programmes
(ab) Model curricula: templates and standardization
(ac) Institutions
(ad) Quality processes
(ae) System assessment
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2. What:
- Possible Perspectives:
(a) Internal Evaluation and external assessment
(b) Consequences of quality: advisory, or licensing
(c) Interests of various participants
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Higher education institution (HEI)
HEI support institution (state)
• providing optimized programmes
• ensuring accountability
• procuring effectivity/efficiency
• inducing optimal programmes
• demanding accountability
• checking effectivity/efficiency
quality/quality assurance
Students Society (e.g., labour market)
• guaranteed quality
• transparent information
• (external) acceptance
• guaranteed quality
• transparent information
• matching needs
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III. The Agent: Public Authorities – Identification:
• Higher education institutions
• Nation state(s)/national ministries
• International public organisations
• Quality assurance agency(ies)
• Professional organisations
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HE institutionsautonomous and responsible organization
State(s)
Civil society/buffer organisations
national/regional public authorities
international public authorities
q. a. agencies professional bodies
Overview of the Relevant Agents
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IV. Objectives and Action: Roles, Responsibilities, and Means
1. „Form follows function“, i.e. purpose: Need to Address „quality“ of HE operations
2. Key approach: What are higher education functions, i. e. ulterior purposes?
3. What ist understood by ‘Quality’?
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3a) ‚Quality‘ as ‚fitness for purpose‘ („purposefulness“) Relevance of HE aims and mission:
• to be productive in research and learning and to enhance quality and quantity in these fields;
• to support individual students’ personal development;
• to aim at meeting cultural needs and international, national, or regional advancement of society (“democratic citizenship”),
• also in economic terms (among others, by securing ‘employability’)
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3b) ‚Quality’ (of teaching and learning): an ambiguous concept; proposals:
• excellence
• fitness of, and for purpose
• matching directives (complying with curricular templates)
• meeting thresholds (complying with standards)
• client/customer satisfaction
• value for money/time invested (efficiency)
• individual enhancement (transformation)
• (institutional) capacity for change
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3c) Significance to governance and management choices at system level:
• Implementation management; or
• Entrepreneurial style of governance and management
Interdependence with understanding of programme quality
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• Features of a ‚compliance-based approach‘:
Model template (t):
Criterion: compliance/identity
Concrete programme (p):
features a(t) + b(t) + c(t) + … + z(t)
features a(p) + b(p) + c(p) + … + z(p)
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• Fitness of, and for ‘purpose approach’ – an open concept following the ‘quality cycle’:
Fitness of purpose
Fitness for purpose
(5) Enhancement: immediate
(1) Objectives: valid
(4) Monitoring: honest
(3) Implementation: true
(2) Concept: fitting
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• Linking ‚programme quality’ (institutional ‘function’) and ‘institutional
quality’ (institutional ‘form’)
Programme (object of activity)
process
institution (active subject)
iteration/enhancementobjective – concept – implementation – monitoring
steering the quality cycle
actors action interaction
(quality culture, governance/management support; int’l and ext’l communication, transparency,
decision-making, setting milestones, et al)
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4. Observing quintessential and circumstantial features: embeddedness of HE
• Freedom of research and teaching/learning: prerequisite for progress and innovation;
• Free individuals whose integration into a team is a major challenge;
• Change of paradigm towards the “entrepreneureal university”
• Increasing costs and advanced communication: ‘concerted’ structures (franchising systems, “chain-stores”, and “trusts”)?
• Difference between legitimacy to be involved (de-jure-competence) and ability to be involved (de-facto-competence) – adequate role-sharing
• Not only national/regional politics, also society as such as stakeholders.
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V. Implications for Governance of Institutions and Systems
1. Towards a methodology of exploring „good governance“
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a) What to do?
Sequence suggested:
• consider,
• explore,
• define,
• correlate,
• translate into governance and management structures,
• integrate into synergetic forces,
• test-run.
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b) How to categorize?
• Basic and overriding points of orientation
• Concrete operational challenges: functions, actors, action, and interaction.
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2. Basic and overriding points of orientation
a) a) In substance: Key orientation of judgment on organizational quality: to be based on aptness
• to identify valid aims (‘fitness of purpose’), and • to achieve them by suitable means (‘fitness for purpose‘);• while distinguishing between strategic dimension (‘capacity for
change [for the better]’) and managerial operations; and• while observing ‘embeddedness’: societal expectations, legal
framework, funding, mentalities of partners, stakeholders, employees.
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b) b) In maxims: governance based on, and supporting
• motivation rather than external control (‘ownership’); • transcending from managerial mechanisms to spirit
(‘quality culture’);• blending of leadership and responsiveness to staff incentives
(‘bottom-up, top-down’);• self-balanced system rather than permanent intervention;• responsibility (rights) and accountability (liability) inseparable;• values, e.g. observing ethics and education for democratic
citizenship;• permanence of review and updating
(move from quality assurance to quality enhancement);• effectiveness and (cost-)efficiency.
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c) In process: transparency and integration, i.e.
• monitoring of and reporting on activities;
• internal and external communication and responsiveness.
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d) In organizational clarity: Defining structures, organs, actors, action in terms of
• creation • selection and election• attribution of rights and duties• interfaces and interaction• responsibility, accountability, and liability• cancellation, revocation• this itemization to be concretely applied to all fields of
activities.
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3. Operational challenges/choices relating to concrete functions, actors, action, and interaction
a) internality and externality
b) leadership, integration, and the individual
c) centralization and devolution
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d) In particular: Choice of steering and learning devices:
• legalistic/normative standards: regulation, and contract management
• economic/funding: distributive and/or competitive success, reward systems
• communicative: feedback, creating conviction, rallying support
• expertise: substantial competence
• responsibility: personal ownership and liability
• political: external values and directives given