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Quality assurance/accreditation: What system for the EHEA ?

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Title: Quality assurance/accreditation: What system for the EHEA ?


1
Quality assurance/accreditation What system
for the EHEA ?
  • 18th BUSINET Annual Conference
  • Estoril, Portugal, 8 October 2004
  • Dr. Guy HAUG
  • European Commission

2
Quality assurance/accreditation What are we
talking about?
  • Accreditation publicly available opinion (or
    statement) of an external and independent body
    ("agency") confirming that certain preestablished
    quality standards are being met.
  • It is based on an evaluation of "quality"
  • - summed up in a punctual and binary message
  • - does not produce quality (this is the role of
    HEI)
  • - but has an indirect impact on quality (e.g.
  • conditional acreditation, prescriptive
    effect)
  • with a view to ensure and enhance quality
  • - one QA method among many, much variations

3
Accreditation a wholly new concept in Europe
  • No accreditation tradition in Europe
  • - State control authorization, certification,
    licence
  • - from 1990 in Central Europe, 1999 in W. Europe
  • Its emergence responds to profound changes
  • - ?private sector, imported education, autonomy
  • - social demand for higher quality curricula,
    methods
  • - ? EU comparability/recognition of
    qualifications
  • - new paradigm from the academic quality of
    what is
  • offered to the effective learning of
    competencies
  • Its importance has grown with the Bologna process
  • - a coherent, compatible and atractive EHEA
    for 2010
  • - ongoing dissemination, but still no
    generalization
  • - Berlin 2003 keystone of the EHEA role of
    ENQA

4
Accreditation organizing the diversity of the
EHEA
  • What kind of "quality" gets acrredited in Europe
    ?
  • - that of programmes, faculties, whole
    institutions
  • ? from ideology towards pragmatism HEI
    some
  • programmes (new, postgraduate, regulated,
    common,
  • through distance education, etc.)
  • - evaluation on the basis of inputs and/or
    outcomes
  • - "global quality" not only academic
    inputs, but also
  • learning process, results, competencies,
    efficiency
  • There will NOT be an agreement on a single model
  • - not to be expected, not necessary
  • - the European QA/accreditation system will
    need to
  • be built up in stages on the way towards
    the EHEA

5
Accreditationmaking it meaningful in the EHEA
  • Accreditation trustworthiness abroad
  • - depends on the authority/credibility of the
  • accrediting body/agency, and on what it
    guarantees
  • - trust may differ widely within country and
    abroad
  • - accreditation without credibility in EHEA
    means
  • not much
  • - compulsory/strategic accreditation (
    multiple accr.)
  • The effects of accreditation for users to decide
  • - administrative consequences, automatic or not
  • - image, prestige, attractiveness

6
A European clearinghouse systemfor
QA/accreditation
  • "Meta-accreditation" in Europe
  • - a system of mutual recognition between
    agencies
  • of sufficient quality and credibility
  • - no pan-European mega-agency horizontal
    networks
  • (ENQA, ECA, )
  • - multiple accreditation no monopoly
    agency/network
  • How much convergence of standards is needed ?
  • What degree of similarity, what common
    instruments
  • are needed to create a sufficient level of
    trust, in spite of HEI diversity and differences
    in approach ?

7
A European clearinghouse systemfor
QA/accreditation
  • Quality must be anchored and promoted within HEI
  • - a must good internal system for
    QA/improvement
  • No pan-European agency, but a strong network
  • - national, regional and specialized/sectoral
    agencies
  • - that submit themselves to external quality
    evaluation
  • - and build up a network mutual validation of
    outcomes
  • - without standardizing the standards
  • - but on the basis of some key principles
    concerning
  • ? independence
  • ? type/level of standards
  • ? procedures
  • European Registry list of co-approved agencies,
    standards of each one, outcomes (opinions) of
    each one

8
Which agencies deserve trust ?
  • Factors concerning their independence
  • - independence to be assessed according to
    reality, not
  • just to statutes composition, appointment
    of
  • members and experts, guarantees,
    resources,
  • - independence with respect to State.and HEI
  • - critical mass of HE system covered
  • - inclusion of foreigners (in decision-making
    body as
  • well as among evaluators), sometines in a
    majority
  • - accreditation of foreign HEI/programmes
    abroad ?

9
Which agencies deserve trust ?
  • Factors related to their process/procedures
  • - self-evaluation external review
  • - more than just a "peer review" experts,
    foreigners
  • - outcomes will be registered in European
    registry
  • - ability to accredit outside national
    territory ?
  • Credibility of the set of standards they use
  • - published, applied consistently, stable
  • - able to build up enough trust in peer
    agencies
  • - flexible, not absolute/automatic, geared
    towards
  • quality improvement rather than punishment
    of HEI

10
Which agencies deserve trust ?
  • No standardization of standards
  • - standards, levels, indicators, criteria,
  • - respect diversity of systems,
    culture/language, HEI
  • - respect right to be different and value
    innovation
  • Yet, in practice standards tend to converge
  • - comparison of criteria and norms between
    agencies
  • - global (not just academic) quality
  • - attention paid to outcomes/competencies
    inputs
  • - common references degree structure in EHEA,
  • ECTS, descriptors of competencies and
    levels,
  • international standards about content
    (TUNING)

11
A QA/accreditation clearinghouse an adequate
system for Europe
  • No uniformization minimal organization of
    diversity
  • Three fundamental principles must be respected
  • - respect for diversity (culture, languages,
    systems),
  • including in QA/Accreditation
  • - mutual trust based on actual quality
    (cross-evaluation
  • between agencies no need to re-do at
    European level
  • what I know is being done well by another
    agency)
  • - HEI autonomy with accountability to
    society
  • HEI must develop their internal QA system,
    but must
  • not be overloaded with external evaluators
  • Key to fair access to European labour market

12
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
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