External Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes A European perspective of an agency

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External Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes
A European perspective of an agency

• IQA workshop Quality in Higher Education
• 29 May 2015
• YÖDAK, TRNC

Ronny Heintze, Commissioner for International
Affairs
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Perspective of an Agency...

• AQAS is a German QA Agency working in all
  academic fields
• is member of ENQA,INQAAHE, ECA and registered in
  EQAR
• was founded in 2002 by German HEIs (independent,
  non profit)
• has accredited 5000 study programmes (18.05.2015)
• AQAS provides
• accreditation procedures for programmes,
• accreditation procedures for of QA-systems
  (institutional approach),
• evaluations,
• consulting in the field of QA.

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• Joint Programmes
• External QA of Joint Programmes
• The European Approach

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Joint Programmes

• There is no agreed definition of Joint Programme
• EUA gives some indicators to define Joint
  Programmes
• Developed or recognized by multiple institutions
• Students study at multiple universities (not
  necessarily all)
• Study times at a different institution are a
  substantial part of programme
• Automatic recognition of credits/exams from other
  institutions
• Joint development of curriculum and cooperation
  in admission and exams
• Usually Joint Degree or Double Degree
• Diversity
• No best practice but lots of good practice

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Why Joint Programmes?

• Students get an attractive qualification
• High reputation if successful
• Visibility of programmes in public
• Creativity and new approaches concerning study
  and learning
• Door opener for internationalization at many HEI.

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• Joint Programmes
• External QA of Joint Programmes
• The European Approach

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European Diversity in EQA

• Europe has a big diversity of HE sytems
• External Quality assurance reflects this
  diversity
• European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) are a
  common determinator, however
• External Quality Assurance reflects national
  specifications and is based on national
  structures

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National accreditation addresses national
diversity
To secure the fairness of process you will all
get the same task climb the tree
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EQA for Joint Programmes

• Different national HE systems lead to different
  EQA criteria
• National EQA perspective on programmes

Country A
Country B
Country C
Country P
Country S
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EQA for Joint Programmes

• How a Joint Programme looks for national EQA

Country B
What is this?
Country S
Coutry A
Country P
Country C
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EQA response in the past

• Based on the ESG cooperation between different
  agencies
• Individually agreed standards between agencies
  reflecting different national criteria
• Some procedures only addressing the national
  components
• Joint Programmes remained a challenge for
  accreditors
• Challenge for the programmes
• different national requirements criteria
• contradictory requirements -gt unsolvable
  conflicts
• different accreditation periods (3-7 years)
• discussions in ECA, ENQA, EUA, EQAR, and ESU

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EQA response in the past II

• ECA started different projects Team II,
  E-Train
• JOQAR project (2010-2013)
• Cooperation between Agencies
• European core criteria and additional national
  components
• Joint accreditation application of all partners
• Joint panel, joint site visit, joint report
• Multiple, potentially different national
  decisions of national agencies
• 4 European pilot procedures
• Based on best intentions of actors

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• Joint Programmes
• External QA of Joint Programmes
• The European Approach

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A new approach

• In May 2015 the EHEA Ministers adopted the
  European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint
  Programmes
• The approach was drafted by the Bologna Follow Up
  Group, is based on ESG, and uses the experiences
  from the JOQAR project of ECA
• JOINT set of criteria (no national components)
• JOINT panel of experts
• JOINT report
• SINGLE outcome (decision)

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Whats ahead...

• The European Approach tries to address the
  challenges that were visible in the past and also
  considers challenges experienced in JOQAR
• Real Joint Programmes can now chose to be
  reviewed by any EQAR registered agency
• There is no experience yet with the reality of
  the SINGLE outcome
• Some national regulations will have to be
  adjusted to implement the European Approach
• Work in progress.

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Finally...

• Often JP are pioneers for internationalization
  and you cant find a path if you dont dare to go
  wrong -gt EQA has to allow this flexibility
• Diversity of HE-systems is a strength of the
  sector -gt EQA has to address it
• Europe has to look outside and consider outcomes
  of EQA outside of Europe (HEI cooperate outside
  EHEA)-gt Cooperation is needed

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THANK YOU

• Your contact Ronny Heintze, Commissioner
  for International Affairs
• AQAS Tel. 49 (0) 221 / 90 960 32
• Hohenstauffenring 30-32 Fax 49 (0) 221 / 90
  960 19
• 50674 Cologne mobile 49 (0) 170 / 579 65 37
• Germany heintze_at_aqas.de
• www.aqas.de