ENQA – QAA meeting 8-9 December 2005 Birmingham, UK 8 December, – Introductions to workshop themes

Audit as peer review Staffan Wahlén

ENQA Standards and Guidelines Appropriate skills and competence to perform the task Exercise of care in the selection of experts International experts Participation of students

Audit as peer review? Academic managers? International experts? Students? Stakeholders? Researchers? Teachers? Quality experts from outside academia?

International academic managers Do not know the national context well enough (ENQA Quality Convergence Study) Language problems but Different, (perhaps) unexpected perspectives

Students What kind of student? Student as student or student as politician? What do they know about the larger context? but Important perspectives

Stakeholders Who are the stakeholders? Do they know enough about the higher education context? What can they contribute?

Quality experts from outside academia Do they take the special character of the higher education context into consideration? Too much ISO, TQM?

The ideal external expert audit team? ?

ENQA Seminar Birmingham 8-9 December 2005 Tine Holm The Danish Evaluation Institute (EVA) Integrating the Bologna requirements in institutional evaluation

European standards Part 1 European standards and guidelines for internal quality assurance within higher education institutions Part 2: European standards and guidelines for the external quality assurance of higher education

Part 1: Standards for internal quality assurance Policy and procedures for quality assurance Approval, monitoring and periodic review of programmes and awards Assessment of students Quality assurance of teaching staff Learning resources and student support Information systems Public information.

Part 1: Policy and procedures for quality assurance Standard Institutions should have a policy and associated procedures for the assurance of the quality and standards of their programmes and awards…… Guidelines: The policy statement is expected to include: The relationship between teaching and research in the institution …

Part 2: Standards for external quality assurance Use of internal quality assurance procedures Development of external quality assurance processes Criteria for decisions Processes fit for purpose Reporting Follow-up procedures Periodic reviews System-wide analyses

Part 2: Use of internal quality assurance procedures Standard: External quality assurance procedures should take into account the effectiveness of the internal quality assurance processes. Guidelines The standards for internal QA in part 1 provide a valuable basis for the external QA assessment procedures

Workshop (1) How far are you in integrating the European standards? And what have the process been? o Involvement of/communication of standards to stakeholders o Ensuring balance between national requirements and European requirements? o Relationship standards/guidelines ? o Challenges?

Workshop (2) Is there a gap between what you are doing now (before integration of standards) and future evaluations (after integration of the standards)? (External QA) -Change in procedures?

Workshop (3) Will the standards put extra requirements upon the HE institutions in your country? (internal QA) -What additional requirements? -Need for national legislation?

Main challenges The readiness and willingness of the national and regional governments, the higher education institutions and the quality assurance agencies to implement the European standards and meet the Berlin and Bergen expectations. The possibility to maintain subsidiarity as a central principle. The different perspectives and goals of governments, agencies, higher education institutions, students and other stakeholders.