The application of the European approach in practice Peter Elting

The application of the European approach in practice organising the partners, programme justification & characteristics providing a short history, and audit/review justifying the European approach selecting the accreditation organisation analysing the European framework and the NVAO writing the application suggesting and selecting panel members visiting sites and receiving the decision

Organising the programme justification rooted in the history and culture of countries in a globalized mobile world ITEps   International education

Organising the partners University College Zealand, DK University College South-East Norway, NO Stenden University of Applied Sciences, NL In the future, universities from UK, Germany, Southern Europe, India/Thailand and South Africa (full or associated partners) Unfortunately not Charles University, CZ; Anadolu University, TU and Linnaeus University, SE (an associated partner in 2017) Advisory board and friends

Intercultural and international competencies are integrated Language of instruction is English (C2-level at graduation) 4 curricula: local, British national curriculum, IPC and IB-PYP Curriculum is deep instead of wide (making maximum use of transfer) Research is integrated into every subject Students must study abroad with one of the partners Students must do a teaching experience abroad One programme with three campuses Organising the programme characteristics

Providing a short history : Erasmus multilateral project 6 countries : Accreditation + implementation 1 Sep 2012: Start in Denmark (pilot ) and the Netherlands (specialisation) 21 Sep 2012: Official opening 1 Sep 2015: Start in Norway 30 Jun 2016: Accreditation based on the European approach for QA of joint programmes

Providing a audit & review YearReviewGoal 2010 ECA, Team II projectInitial accreditation 2011, 2012 Internal review University College of South East Norway, Norway Initial accreditation 2013 Hobéon External Audit ITEps as a special track of the Bachelor of Education (Primary) Stenden 2014 AEQUI/NVAO Accreditation of the BEd (Primary), including ITEps as a special track, Stenden 2015 Macro Efficiency Test of ITEps Meppel Application ITEps as independent programme in the Netherlands 2016 NVAOEuropean Approach for QA of joint programmes

Justifying the European approach & selecting the accreditation organisation All three partners are accredited institutes Stenden needs external quality assurance at programme level National approach vs European approach - International programme - One process instead of 3 or more processes - Trustworthiness towards international consortia / schools - Expanding the consortium Selecting accreditation organisation (EQAR-registered): NVAO

Analysing the European framework & NVAO Developing a document stating what is needed per standard - ECTS users’ guide ESG 2015 version document (standards and guidelines for QA in the EHEA) - ECA publications (e.g. joint programme checklist) - tailored towards the ITEps consortium - the outcomes from past reviews - the jointness of the programme (e.g. standard 1.2: joint delivery and design) - co-creation Meeting with NVAO about: - the meaning of some standards, especially when all partners are accredited (e.g. standard 9: Quality assurance) - which documents are needed

European Framework I 1.1 Status: Accredited institutions entitled to issue the degree 1.2 Joint design and delivery: important to the ITEps consortium. a joint programme with a clear framework and a strong basis, developed from scratch. Subject groups and co-creation 1.3 Cooperation agreement: Our joint programme agreement 2.1 Level: learning outcomes on bachelor level and in line with the national qualifications frameworks (they are compatible with FQ-EHEA)  competences national and common European principles for teacher competences and qualifications 2.2 Disciplinary field: competencies contain knowledge, skills and attitudes that are reflected in all the modules and subjects 2.3 Achievement: mastery of all competencies: final teaching practice, bachelor thesis 2.4 Regulated professions: not applicable

European Framework II 3.1 Curriculum (structure and content): flexible programme with compulsory and optional subjects, continuous learning pathways, (coherence) 3.2 Credits: limited number of subjects, total of 240 ECTS, spread over the 4 years. Discussion about the definition of 1 ECTS point 3.3 Workload: study load spread equally over the 4 years. Monitoring process is part of our QAS 4.1 Admission: requirements are settled (e.g. level EQF and English) an intake procedure includes police clearance 4.2 Recognition: mutual recognition of points (in the agreement) 5.1 Learning and Teaching: development of the students’ competencies, integrated internships, coherence of theory and practice. Making use of diversity! 5.2 Assessment of students: formative and summative assessment (included in the subject description framework). Four eyes principle, and final teaching practice and bachelor thesis 6 Student support: during registration, orientation, during teaching practice, throughout the programme, end of the programme, similar in all institutions

European framework III 7.1 Staff: policies on consortium level (per University) about quantity, quality and professional development 7.2 Facilities: access to all facilities of the consortium partners. Video conferencing is important. Forum per subject. 8: Transparency and Documentation: All documents are online. Shared documents on the ITEps website and specific documents for each university on their websites 9: Quality assurance: existing QA per university and QA on consortium level Q agenda and a policy plan. All stakeholders are involved.

Writing the application Based on the document about the European framework a project plan was developed. The project organisation consisted of - writing group -organisational group  University level -resonance group -workgroups All the outcomes were discussed in the programme council and steering committee Some milestones were: Draft 1 application to Programme Council and Steering Committee Draft 2 to resonance group and used for a trial of the site-visit Draft 3 to Steering Committee (official decision)  NVAO March : site-visit panel in Meppel, the Netherlands

Suggesting and selecting panel members Panel members: - independent of the involved universities - international expertise in relevant fields, labour market, HE-systems involved, QAS - minimum of 4 panel members The consortium suggested 3 members (1 from each country) to the NVAO. The members had experienced accreditation processes. One of them was extremely experienced (also as a chair) The NVAO provided the student representative, certified secretary and process manager

Visiting sites and receiving the decision Meetings: Presentation of ITEps by group of students from each partner Real and virtual meetings with management, lecturers, students and work field stakeholders Feedback session 9 May 2016: Final panel report 17 Jun 2016: Official letter Sep 2016: Plan based on the findings

Thank you / Discussions / Questions