QA in Higher Education

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QA in Higher Education
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Reinheitsgebot

• Year 1516 King Wilhelm VI of Bavaria

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When speaking on beer, everything is clear

• When speaking on HE, one can find thousands of
  complicated terms, bur not many clues

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Bologna ProcessCommuniqué of Berlin 18 - 19
September 2003

• Three priorities
• The Degree System
• Quality Assurance
• The recognition of degrees

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Institution must develop own Quality Assurance
System, to include

• Policy and procedures
• Approval and review of curricula
• Assessment of students
• Quality assurance of teaching staff
• Adequate learning resources support
• Managed Information system
• Open to public policy

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1. Policy and procedures

• The strategy, policy and procedures should have a
  formal status and be publicly available.
• The policy statement
• the relationship between teaching and research
• the institution's strategy for quality and
  standards
• the organization of the quality assurance
  system
• the responsibilities of departments, and other
  units and individuals for the assurance of
  quality
• the involvement of students
• the ways in which the policy is implemented,

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2. Approval and review of curricula

• publication of explicit learning objectives
• permanent attention to curriculum design and
  content
• formal program approval by external body
• monitoring of the progress of students
• regular periodic external reviews of programs
• regular feedback from employers labor market
• participation of students in QA activities.

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3. Assessment of students

• Students should be assessed using published
  criteria, regulations and procedures which are
  applied consistently

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Student assessment procedures

• to measure the achievement of the objectives
• diagnostic, formative or summative
• have clear and published criteria for marking
• be undertaken by people who understand the
  assessment
• not rely on the judgments of single examiners
• have clear regulations covering student absence,
• be subject to administrative verification checks

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4. Quality assurance of teaching staff

• Teachers are the single most important learning
  resource
• all new staff should have at least the minimum
  necessary level of competence
• Teaching staff should be given opportunities to
  develop
• Institutions should have the means to remove them
  from their teaching duties if they continue to be
  demonstrably ineffective

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5. Learning resources

• physical resources such as libraries or computing
  facilities
• human support in the form of tutors, counselors,
  and other advisers
• support services
• Institutions should routinely monitor, review and
  improve the effectiveness of the support services

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6. Information systems

• student progression and success rates
• employability of graduates
• students' satisfaction with their programs
• effectiveness of teachers
• profile of the student population
• the institution's own key performance indicators.

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7. Public information

• the programs they are offering,
• the intended learning outcomes
• the qualifications they award,
• the teaching, learning and assessment procedures
  used, and
• the learning opportunities available.

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Documents to Support QA

• Mission Statement
• Learning Objectives
• Profile of Competency
• Admittance Procedure
• Transfer Procedure
• Assessment Procedures
• Graduation Procedures

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Services to Support QA

• Student Affairs Office
• Student Counseling Office
• Students Financial Advisory Office
• Mentorship Structure

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Databases to Support QA

• Students Progress Database
• Students Extracuricular Activities
• Graduates First Employment Databasee
• Structured Regular Surveys
• Staff Research Database
• Staff Publications Database
• Staff Projects Database

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Results of Quality Management
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Another Form of Quality Management