Accreditation and quality assurance in Europe

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Accreditation and quality assurance in Europe

• Prof. Dr. Dirk Van Damme

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Overview

• The concept of accreditation
• Accreditation as merging of recognition and
  quality assurance
• Quality shifting concepts and approaches
• Accreditation the context and functions
• Accreditation risks and questions

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The concept of accreditation

• ad-credere giving credit, trust to someone, a
  service,
• norms of quality, security, safeness,
  ?standards
• on the basis of independent and expert review
• public statement
• market access (trustworthiness) and transparency
  (standardisation)

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The concept of accreditation

• Accreditation is a formal and public statement
  by an independent agency and on the basis of an
  external quality review, that specific,
  previously agreed standards are met by a
  programme or institution of higher education
• consequences approval, recognition, funding,
  state recognition of qualifications,

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The concept of accreditation

• components
• formal and public statement
• of binary nature
• by competent authorities
• ex post or ex ante
• previously agreed standards (basic or excellence)
• after independent and expert quality review
• of programme or institution (or intermediate)
• restricted time validity

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Accreditation recognition x QA

• Recognition in (continental) Europe
• state recognition of institutions, programmes and
  qualifications
• a priori decision by Parliament or Government
• input criteria curriculum, qualified personnel,
  
• state recognition of effectus civilis of
  qualifications, also giving access to professions
  in public sector

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Accreditation recognition x QA

• Quality assurance
• new regulatory system emerging since the late
  eighties
• separate from recognition
• focus on improvement, but with increasing
  importance of accountability function

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Accreditation recognition x QA

• Quality assurance
• external drivers probably more powerful than
  internal autonomous demand
• massification and concerns for a potential
  decline of standards
• diminishing confidence of stake-holders in
  traditional academic quality management
• increasing demand for more accountability
• public demand for transparency (ranking)
• pressures to increase cost-effectiveness

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Accreditation recognition x QA
quality assurance
accreditation
regulation
recognition
time
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Accreditation recognition x QA
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Accreditation recognition x QA

• still other forms of QA than accreditation
• there are still recognition systems that do not
  rely on QA
• but there is a growing interconnection and even
  merging of both regulatory systems
• in this process, also the concept of quality
  itself has changed

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Quality shifting concepts and approaches

• two dimensions
• low high
• absolute externally/internally relative
• four approaches
• excellence standards
• fitness for purpose
• basic standards
• consumer satisfaction

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high
excellence standards
internally relative
externally relative
fitness for purpose
consumer satisfaction
absolute
basic standards
low
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Quality shifting concepts and approaches

• Quality is a multi-dimensional concept
• Changing definitions
• Any particular definition of quality at a given
  time-space configuration is function of
  interaction of those four components
• Importance of social context

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Accreditation the context and functions

• Criticisms of first generation QA systems
• externally imposed, not embedded in real
  institutional quality culture still high
  tolerance for low quality in institutions
• bureaucratic overload, impact on autonomy, cost
• methodological weaknesses benchmarking,
  self-referential teams, window-dressing,
  insufficient critical nature, role of
  disciplines, etc.
• conservatism, canonisation vs innovation

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Accreditation the context and functions

• Changing environment provokes shift
• from egalitarian massification to a more
  competitive higher education market
• from domestic focus to internationalisation and
  globalisation
• towards differentiation in institutions and
  delivery modes
• from meritocracy to lifelong learning, eroding
  the only left monopoly, degrees

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Accreditation the context and functions

• towards next generation of QA arrangements
• providing clear statements on an increasingly
  complex reality
• guaranteeing transparency and convergence in a
  more diversified and international environment
• broadening focus while keeping up same concept of
  academic quality
• emphasizing external functions while stressing
  autonomy, self-regulation and inclusiveness

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Accreditation the context and functions

• accreditation is expected to address some of the
  needs and to fulfil following functions
• guaranteeing that agreed standards are met
• more independent, clear, sharp, benchmarked
  quality statements
• strengthening international functions,
  transparent student information and
  accountability
• linking QA to recognition and other regulatory
  systems

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Accreditation the context and functions

• accreditation thus implies a shift in the
  triangle of power in HE towards market relations
• but, accreditation still may be seen as a
  regulatory system in the middle of the power
  triangle

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Accreditation
State
recognition
accreditation
quality assurance
ranking
(Intl) Market
Academia
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Accreditation risks and questions

• Still continuing debate on accreditation
• do we need it in developed HE systems?
• fixed standards in a complex, diversifying,
  dynamic reality?
• rewarding mainstream and mediocrity jeopardising
  improvement functions by stressing
  accountability?
• additional bureaucratic burden to institutions
  and academics, sign of distrust?