1 Education in Europe: Quality Enhancement and Setting Standards Dr Marie Donaghy Head of School of Health Sciences

European Higher Education Area (EHEA) Sustainable reform of higher education in Europe but…… ‘regular and close involvement of professional associations and employers in curricular development still seems to be rather limited’ Trends 2003; Progress towards a EHEA published by the European University Association (EUA)

“Bologna, education and Europe” “European higher education institutions (HEI), for their part, have accepted the challenge and taken up a role in constructing the European area of higher education in the wake of fundamental principles laid down in the Bologna Magna Carte Universitarium of 1988” (Bologna, 1999)  1999 Bologna Conference led to the Bologna Process (BP)  Sorbonne declaration (universities central role in developing culture/employability)  2001 Prague Conference  Lisbon recognition convention (ie academic recognition procedures ENIC/NARIC)

What are ENIC/NARIC European Network of Information Centres (ENIC) National Academic Recognition Information Centres (NARIC)  May jointly work to link Quality Assurance (QA) to recognition  critical to facilitate recognition of a students’ academic work ‘abroad’

Bologna concepts and principles  Employability and mobility of the workforce  Flexible access and learning pathways for a diverse ‘student body’  “Learning” workload credits as educational units to be accumulated (ECTS)  ‘new’ two tiers of education across Europe & taught doctorates  Curricular design that takes into account qualification descriptors, level descriptors,skills and learning outcomes  Internal and external quality assurance procedures

Berlin (2003) ‘the ministers meeting in Berlin has highlighted the need for national qualification frameworks for their respective higher education systems…’

Lisbon Convention (1997) The convention on the recognition of qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European region (legal document) Recognition of qualifications, giving access to HE etc etc But ‘importance of transparent criteria and procedures’

Quality Assurance (Evaluation or Accreditation)  External Used for quality improvement And accountability to society (UK Health Professions Council, HPC)  Internal Quality of teaching Quality of research 50% HEIs would welcome pan-European Accreditation Agency (Trends, 2003) or mutual recognition

Frequency of the types of evaluation

The heart of Bologna…. 1‘…….lies in the enhancement of quality and curricular reform, the core competence of academics.’ 2Preparing graduates for the labour market in Europe But pragmatically: ‘….enhancing the attractiveness of the European systems of HE in the rest of the world is a driving force….’ (Trends 2003)

Students….what do they want? To gain further support …HEIs would have to make it clearer to public authorities, parliaments and governments, how vital the contribution of HE graduates and HE- based research has become to national and global social and economic welfare.’ (Eurostudent, 2002; Trends, 2003)

…and a Diploma Supplement  A transcript of achievement across Europe  Recognition of study and level obtained  which is essential for qualification and work

Towards comparable structures ( ECTS introduced 15 years ago!)  First cycle 3 year (minimum) bachelor degree (> 180 ECTS but < 240 ECTS)  Second cycle Master/doctoral (> 60 but but most 120 ECTS)* Eg Austrian University Act: doctoral degree = 120 ECTS But 240 ECTS or more leads to a PhD *medicine = 300ECTS

Implementation of Bachelor/Master structures

Use of ECTS or other credit transfer systems by HEIs

Transparency and equivalents  Transparency What do we mean by…. ’level descriptor….learning outcome…qualification framework…learning workloads’  Towards a European Qualifications Framework (EQF) a system of easily readable and comparable degrees Berlin 2003

Quality assurance  Most countries have a QA Agency  European Quality Association (ENQA) ‘more and more agencies are using standards and criteria in the evaluation procedures’  Benchmarking for good/best practice

European Physiotherapy Benchmark Statement Adopted by WCPT June 2003 What is it? Who should use it? How can it be used? What are the benefits?

European Physiotherapy Benchmark Statement What is it? “It describes the nature and standards of programmes of study in Physiotherapy that lead to awards made by HEIs in Europe” It describes  the nature and scope of practice  the knowledge understanding and skills of physiotherapists as applied to practice  the attributes of a physiotherapist entering the profession

European Physiotherapy Benchmark Statement Who should use it? It can be used by  National Physiotherapy Organisations  HEIs  Governments  Quality assurance agencies  Physiotherpay educators  Managers and service users

European Physiotherapy Benchmark Statement How can it be used?  To inform governments and other bodies of the skills knowledge base and autonomy of the profession  By educators to inform curriculum development and programme structure  As a benchmark for quality assurance

European Physiotherapy Benchmark Statement What are the benefits?  By setting standards for Physiotherapy in Europe It provides HEIs and QAAs with a mechanism for assuring quality  It provides managers with information regarding the level of skills and attributes of physiotherapists entering the profession  It provides transparency and should help us achieve a common platform of learning in Physiotherapy

The Future Towards a common platform of physiotherapy programmes of learning in Europe…... ‘regular and close involvement of professional associations and employers in curricular development using the EU Physiotherapy Benchmark Statement should move HEIs and National Organisations closer to this goal’ Donaghy 2003

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WEB sites and further reading WCPT Physiotherapy www. Trends 2003 found through the European University Association web-site Practice placements cement.pdf HPC uk.org/publications/standards/Standards_of_Proficiency_Dietitians.pdf

WEB sites and further reading Learning and Teaching site: Learning and Teaching Support Network for AHPs is the The Centre for Health Science and Practice Also visit the Generic Centre at same address