Title: Quality assurance/accreditation: What system for the EHEA ?
1Quality assurance/accreditation What system
for the EHEA ?
- 18th BUSINET Annual Conference
- Estoril, Portugal, 8 October 2004
- Dr. Guy HAUG
- European Commission
2Quality 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
3Accreditation 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
4Accreditation 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
5Accreditationmaking 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
6A 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 ?
7A 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)
11A 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
12THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION