RH/December 2005

OAQ/CRUS Conference

„Internal quality assurance at higher education institutions. Requirements and good practices“

Bern, 2 December 2005

Rolf Heusser, „Institutional assessment: a new trend in external quality assurance“

RH/December 2005

„Internal quality assurance at higher education institutions. Requirements and good practices“

Intervention by Rolf Heusser

1. International context of external quality assurance

2. Trends in external quality assurance in Europe

3. Institutional assessments – strengths and challenges

4. Case study: Switzerland

RH/December 2005

International context for QA in higher education

Increasing number of providers in HE / new providers

Internationalisation of education and research

Increasing autonomy of HE institutions

Call for transparency and accountability

RH/December 2005

International dimension of quality assurance

Accreditation/Quality Assurance

Internationalrecognition of qualifications

Cross-bordereducation

GATS

Access to labour market

RH/December 2005

Berlin conference 2003

«Quality (...) has proven to be at the heart of the EHEA»

Goals for 2005:

Implementation of national quality assurance systems

Including a system of accreditation or comparable procedures

Evaluation of programmes and institutions International cooperation and networking

RH/December 2005

National Agencies for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Europe, 2005

Evaluations / Audits Accreditations

RH/December 2005

Trends in external quality assurance in Europe

Widespread use of accreditation

From input to output orientation

Internationalisation of accreditation and quality assurance (mutual recognition agreements, peer reviews of QA-agencies)

From systematic programme assessments to institutional assessments

RH/December 2005

Programme assessments - Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

Focus on „educational quality“

Useful information for students/employers

Link to national recognition practices

Direct international comparison of qualifications possible

Weaknesses

Very demanding in resources

Sensitive to programme changes

Restricting autonomy of HEIs at programme level

Limited impact on institutional quality processes

RH/December 2005

Institutional assessments – Strengths

Enhancement of institutional quality mechanisms and facilitation of the development of a quality culture

Sustainable effects at the level of institutional management

Respect of the autonomy of HEIs

Resource saving method

RH/December 2005

Conferences of Berlin 2003 and Bergen 2005

Berlin: „ ... the primary responsibility for QA in higher education lies with each institution and this provides the basis for real accountability“.

Bergen: „ ... we urge the HE institutions to continue their efforts to enhance the quality of their activities through the systematic introduction of internal mechanisms and their direct correlation to external QA“.

RH/December 2005

Institutional approaches to external QA, Europe 2005

Country Method Start

CH Quality Audit 2003

DK Institutional Audit 2004

F Institutional Evaluation 2004

N Quality Audit 2003

S Quality Audit 1995

UK Institutional Audit 2003

RH/December 2005

Institutional assessments – Challenges and open questions

Challenges:

Limited information about educational provisions

No direct international comparison of qualifications possible

Open questions:

How can we assure good quality of study programmes?

How to guarantee that institutional assessments can be used for the purpose of transnational recognition of qualifications?

RH/December 2005

Institutional assessment – Use for purpose of mutual recognition agreements

Institutional assessments should

focus on internal quality assurance- and management processes of HEIs;

use an accreditation approach (due to close link to recognition);

be based on transparent and internationally accepted standards (ENQA standards and guidelines 2005);

assure that sufficient and reliable information is available about the quality of educational provision (and research) HEIs should have a good management information system

RH/December 2005

Institutional assessment – Case study Switzerland

From 2002 - 2005 the OAQ has carried out 102 accreditation/evaluation procedures, one third of them concerned institutional assessments

Quality audits have been carried out at all Swiss universities in 2003/04 (results on the OAQ homepage: www.oaq.ch)

Guidelines for internal quality assurance at Swiss universities have been developed (on the basis of ENQA standards)

RH/December 2005

New University Law in Switzerland

Possible elements of future external quality assurance system

Equal treatment for the whole tertiary sector

Respecting primary responsibility of HEIs for quality assurance

Institutional accreditation as mandatory element, focussing on internal QA-systems of HEIs

Programme accreditations selective and on demand

Compatible with international standards and guidelines

RH/December 2005

Summary and conclusions

Accreditation and quality assurance are key elements for the implementation of the Bologna process

Trend towards institutional assessments in Europe

Focus on internal quality assurance systems of HEIs

ENQA standards as reference system

Switzerland is very well positioned to fulfil these new requirements