Internal Quality Assurance at Universities: The Irish perspective

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Internal Quality Assurance at UniversitiesThe
Irish perspective
Dr Padraig Walsh Chief Executive Irish
Universities Quality Board

OAQ-CRUS Conference Internal quality assurance at
higher education institutions requirement and
good practices 2 December 2005, Bern,
Switzerland
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Irish Universities Quality Board

• established 2003
• Website www.iuqb.ie

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Irish Universities Quality Board

• Independent, non-statutory body
• 17 member Board
• 7 nominees from rectors conference (IUA)
• 10 other nominees
• Funding Council, Qualification Authority,
  Employers, Trade Unions, Students
• European, American university system
• Funded by
• Universities, Higher Education Authority
• Currently being incorporated

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Outline of Presentation

• Irish Higher Education System
• Quality Assurance History and Legislation
• Experiences of Irish Universities with QA/QI
• (External) Review of effectiveness of (internal)
  QA procedures

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Background to Irish Higher Education System

• Population of Ireland 4 million (and lt!)
• c. 55 of school-leavers in HE in 2004
• Binary HE system
• 7 universities
• Autonomous
• Funded by Higher Education Authority
• 14 non-university Institutes (of Technology)
• Funded by Department of Education Science

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Quality Assurance in Irish Higher Education

• Universities
• Regulated by Universities Act (1997)
• Universities and IUQB responsible for QA
• Institutes of Technology
• Regulated by Qualifications Act (1999)
• Higher Education Training and Awards Council
  (HETAC) responsible for QA

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QA in Universities

• Before the 1997 Act
• External examiners for UG and PG (taught and
  research) programmes (all universities)
• Validation and external accreditation of all new
  programmes (some universities)
• Periodic external accreditation for professional
  programmes (all universities)
• External members on panels for staff appointments
  (all universities)

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Universities Act 1997

• Legislation that requires the university to put
  in place
• quality assurance procedures aimed at improving
  the quality of education and related services
  provided by the university

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Universities Act 1997

• The (QA) procedures shall include
• the evaluation of
• .. each department (of the university)
• .. and each faculty (of the university)
• .. and any service provided by the university
• by employees of the university
• and by persons .. who are competent to make
  national and international comparisons on the
  quality of teaching and research and the
  provision of services at university level

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Universities Act 1997

• The procedures shall include
• assessment by those, including students,
  availing of the teaching, research and other
  services provided by the university

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Universities Act 1997

• primary legislation that defines basis for
• Internal QA procedures for individual
  universities
• autonomously
• External QA of individual universities
• Periodic audits (organised by IUQB) of the
  effectiveness of QA procedures in individual
  universities
• External QA of university sector
• Review (organised by HEA) of QA procedures in
  university sector

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(Internal) Quality Assurance in Irish
Universities

• What happens in practice?

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Legislation to Methodology

• Self-assessment
• of Academic/Administrative Departments
• assessment by students/stakeholders
• Peer Review (from list of nominees)
• National experts
• International experts
• Stakeholders
• Publication of Findings
• Implementation of Recommendations
• Follow-up

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Self Assessment

• Lessons learned since 1995

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Self Assessment

• A statement consisting solely of functions,
  activities and outputs is not a self-assessment
  Report
• A good self-assessment report implies no
  surprises for Review Team
• Review visit is a validation of the
  self-assessment report

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Self Assessment good practices

• Have a small Quality committee representative of
  all staff at all grades
• Involvement of the Head
• Regular communication with all staff not on the
  Quality Committee

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Self Assessment

• Good self assessment
• Good peer review!
• . . . during the course of the two days of
  meetings, it was notable that no significant
  areas of criticism were identified which had not
  already been noted in the (self-assessment)
  report . . .

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Quality Assurance in Irish Universities

• Follow-up / Implementation

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Follow up Good Practices

• Circulate Review Report to all staff
• Agree a (Quality Improvement) plan of action with
  timescales and deliverables
• 1 year and 5 year
• Publish the Review Report (visibly!)
• Publish the Quality Improvement Plan (visibly!)
• Agree to report on progress with the 1 year plan
  1 year later
• Perhaps invite members of review group back

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Review of (internal) QA in Irish Universities

• EUA were jointly commissioned by IUQB and the
  Higher Education Authority to review the
• (internal) quality assurance procedures in the
  Irish University sector
• 1 report
• effectiveness of (internal) quality assurance
  procedures in the individual Irish Universities
• 7 reports

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EUA Review of QA - strengths

• (the) systematic organisation and promotion of
  QA at the initiative of the universities
  themselves .. is unparalleled in any other
  country in Europe, or indeed in the United States
  and Canada
• A common framework for QA has been agreed
  collectively by all the Irish Universities
  through IUQB

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Irish Universities Quality Board (IUQB)
IUQB was established voluntarily by the Irish
Universities in 2003 with the aim of increasing
the level of inter-university co-operation in
developing quality assurance processes
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EUA Review of QA - strengths

• The system would appear to strike the right tone
  and combination of public interest,
  accountability and university autonomy
• The agreed IUQB focus on quality improvement is
  particularly to be commended

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QA in a university Required Practice v Good
Practice
Required by law A university
Departmental Review Every 10 years 6 year cycle
Institutional Audit Every 15 years Within 7 years
Publication Outcome of evaluations Full PRG Report Full QuIP Synthetic Evaluation 1 year follow-up
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EUA Review of QA - weaknesses

• no system in place for the performance appraisal
  of individual staff members
• Review focus tends to reinforce existing academic
  structures
• Quality review cycle is not linked to strategic
  planning cycle
• Inconsistent support from senior management
• Insufficient monitoring of quality improvement
  plans

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Quality Assurance

• Finals thoughts

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EUA Trends IV survey

• findings
• Institutions with the most systematic approach
  to quality are also those that benefit from the
  greatest institutional autonomy
• Institutions find that a well developed internal
  quality culture should be associated with a light
  external quality control

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EUA Sectoral Report on Irish Universities

• While the Irish universities are pioneers in
  developing and implementing a systematic quality
  review and quality improvement system by
  themselves, .. they are not yet leaders in using
  the outcomes of the system to stimulate strategic
  change inside the universities
• This should be a priority during the next phase
  of developing the QA system

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IUQB and Universities

• Challenge of Bergen Standards
• Standards for internal QA within higher education
  institution (responsibilities of universities)
• Standards for external QA of higher education
  (IUQB with involvement of universities)
• Standards for external QA agencies (IUQB with
  universities as customers)
• Update of Framework Document as joint IUQB/IUA
  publication
• Establishment of IUQB on a legal basis

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