Policy Making in Europe: Convergence or Conflict? Accreditation of Higher Education: Comparative Policies in Europe Prof. Dr. Dirk Van Damme Professor of Education Ghent University (B) General Director VLIR (B) Commission on Global Accreditation IAUP European accreditation project CRE ‘Comité Proefaccreditering’ HBO-Raad (NL) Flemish representative in ‘Commissie Franssen’ (NL)

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 2 Policy Making in Europe Accreditation: what? Why has accreditation in Europe become an issue? Challenges and principles Antecedents and current developments Prospects Convergence, divergence or conflict? Conclusions

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 3 Accreditation: what? public statement based on a quality assessment that certain standards are met –programme or institution –voluntary bodies, state agencies, sector’s organisations, professional associations, inter-institutional networks –threshold or excellence standards –consequences and benefits: public statement, ‘recognition’, licence to teach, financing, credit-transfer and access to postgraduate level, student aid, access to profession, quality label, etc.

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 4 Why accreditation in Europe? /1 80s: in many (continental) European countries statutory recognition of institutions and programs by the state with no external accreditation procedures 90s: changing state-institution relations : –more institutional autonomy, decentralisation and deregulation in exchange to accountability –‘evaluative state’ (Neave): higher education as public good leads to public interest in quality, –from input- to output-steering : more use of output- indicators –contractualisation of relations (e.g. France)

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 5 Why accreditation in Europe? /2 90s: emergence of quality assurance (QA) –massification and concerns for a potential decline of standards –diminishing confidence of stake-holders in traditional academic quality management –increasing demand for more accountability –budget restrictions, pressure to increase cost-effectiveness –more competitive higher education market where quality becomes an asset and labeling device –emergence of a ‘general’ QA model (Van Vught), methodological convergence

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 6 Why accreditation in Europe? /3 globalisation of higher education : –global student mobility, competition, diminishing ‘attractiveness’ of European higher education –new providers : private universities, branch campuses of US universities, franchising and electronic delivery modes –liberalisation of education services, free trade agreements, US claims in discussions of GATS in WTO –impact of ‘external’ accreditation : professional accreditation agencies, US accreditation operating in Europe, ABET, Washington Accord, GATE, EQUIS

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 7 Challenges and principles /1 problems, needs and challenges : –strong need for transparency in an increasingly complex and heterogeneous higher education system –continuing problems with recognition of diplomas and degrees, equivalence issues –problems with credit transfer –integration of internationalisation and quality assurance: QA is essentially national and domestic, no QA for internationalisation –need for a stronger and more focused QA system, with stronger regulatory impact on higher education

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 8 Challenges and principles /2 European accreditation is seen as a possible road to: –make QA systems less domestic, more international –make QA systems more effective (and sanctioning) –provide a solid and ‘trustworthy’ basis for new bachelor and master degrees –integrate new providers in the system –create more transparency in the HE system –develop a sound basis for credit transfer and recognition of degrees –improve mobility, cooperation and exchange

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 9 Challenges and principles /3 principles in establishing European accreditation (< CRE-project): –convergence while preserving diversity –flexibility in adapting to changing environments –respect for institutional autonomy –involvement of all stake-holders, including students –balance of (internal) improvement and (external) accountability functions –value-added to existing QA systems ; building upon methodological experiences with QA

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 10 Antecedents and developments /1 Various European ways in dealing with ‘recognition’ –ERASMUS and SOCRATES programmes –European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) –Lisbon Convention : diploma supplement, from ‘equivalence’ to ‘recognition’ of diplomas and degrees –establishment of information and diploma recognition networks (NARIC’s and ENIC’s) Lack of integration with QA (e.g. ECTS) –initiatives of European Commission, CRE, ACA, IMHE (IQR) and others on international QA

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 11 Antecedents and developments /2 Bologna Declaration (1999) –goal: “to create a European space for higher education in order to enhance the employability and mobility of citizens and to increase the international competitiveness of European higher education” –keywords : transparency, compatibility, flexibility, comparability –“a European dimension in quality assurance, with comparable criteria and methods”

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 12 Antecedents and developments /3 diverging national developments, e.g. : –Germany : accreditation for new B/M degrees, with meta- accreditation by Akkreditierungsrat –Netherlands : establishment of public accreditation agency; experimental accreditation by non-university sector –Finland : public accreditation council for institutional accreditation of polytechnics and continuing professional courses –UK : public statements by QAA as final part of QA process –CEE countries : mostly state-run accreditation agencies that give ex ante authorisation to programmes or institutions

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 13 Antecedents and developments /4 emerging networks on the European level : –European network of QA agencies established in 1999 and supported by European Commission: ENQA –networks of institutions establishing their own accreditation (e.g. ECIU) –professional accreditation networks in engineering, medicine, veterinary sciences, etc. –the EQUIS model developed by EFMD in management education networks and initiatives on the global level : –IAUP, INQAAHE, CHEA

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 14 Antecedents and developments /5 CRE-project (July February 2001) –an analysis of the needs, principles and possibles options for supra-national accreditation in Europe –conclusions (Lisbon seminar, February 2001): need to strengthen QA systems in view of the Bologna process, to ensure transparency, compatibility and credibility of B/M degrees strong resistance to a centralised European accreditation system with a single, imposed set of criteria; no ranking or uniformity accreditation is a possible avenue, when ownership remains on institutional level, bottom-up, building on existing QA models need for a European ‘platform’

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 15 Antecedents and developments /6 Salamanca Convention (March 2001) - theme 5 –the need for supra-national quality assurance procedures in a transnational HE context –support for accreditation from stakeholders and students; hesitation among some institutions and disciplines –purily national accreditation systems and intrusion of ‘foreign’ accreditation perceived as problematic –increasing awareness of reality of ‘multiple accreditation’ –still highly confused debate –a European platform is desirable, fostering mutual acceptance of QA and accreditation systems and decisions

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 16 Prospects In many countries accreditation is on the agenda (cf. Haug & Tauch, Trends II) Experiments and plans for national accreditation in many countries (Italy, Spain, Norway, Netherlands, Flanders, etc.) Prague Ministerial Conference (May 2001) Initiative for supra-national accreditation agency from Dutch & Flemish education ministers with strong interest from other countries EUA-platform

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 17 Convergence or conflict? /1 Convergence: –necessity to give strong (international) credibility to new degrees by QA and accreditation procedures –necessity to solve issues of recognition and certification; need for transparency, comparability and compatibility –necessity to confront issues related to new providers and new delivery modes –build further on existing QA procedures and experiences

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 18 Convergence or conflict? /2 Divergence: –still very complex higher education systems –differences between binary and unified systems of higher education –differences between systems with national qualifications frameworks vs. institutional autonomy in curricula –very substantial differences in shaping national accreditation models

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 19 Convergence or conflict? /3 Topics of debate or conflict: –quality benchmark levels and accreditation criteria; differentiation and ranking: towards a divided Europe? –accreditation as a way to erode institutional autonomy?; resistance to public accreditation agencies (state) and involvement of stakeholders (economy) –ownership of accreditation: state-controlled or institution- controlled?; role of external stakeholders? –must other accreditation systems (professional, inter- institutional, etc.) be subjected to public accreditation?

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 20 Convergence or conflict? /4 Topics of debate or conflict (cont’d): –balance between national and supra-national accreditation systems –freedom of accreditation, ‘meta-accreditation’ and control –danger of conservative effects by the impact of common, ‘trustworthy’ standards; negative impact on innovation of higher education?; standards must be challenging –danger of increasing homogeneity, balance/tension between transparency and differentiation

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 21 Conclusions /1 With accreditation state-institution relations but also national-international balances enter new phase Issues concerning ‘trust’ and credibility move from institutions to national QA and accreditation systems to supra-national level, but still strong opposition to substantial transfer of competences to ‘Europe’ Extending ‘space’ of European HE lowers quality benchmarks and standards, downward levelling when moving from centre to periphery

Vienna, 27 April 2001Dirk Van Damme - Policy Making in Europe 22 Conclusions /2 Marketisation of higher education: is accreditation a potential source of stability/‘conservatism’ in a restless environment? Is a strengthening or recognition of the public good dimension of higher education? Diverging interests: students - programmes - institutions - national HE systems - stakeholders - national authorities - international ‘space’ Underestimation of substantial methodological issues