Bern 29 April 2004 European Initiatives in Quality Assurance and Accreditation: JQI and ECA Ton Vroeijenstijn QA-consultants bv The Netherlands

Bern 29 April 2004 CHANGES IN EQA Pre-Bologna l National setting l National needs l Fitness for purpose l Process oriented l Improvement/accoun- tability Post-Bologna l l European dimension l l International needs l l Fitness of purpose l l Out-put oriented l l Criteria based l l accreditation

Bern 29 April 2004 DEVELOPMENTS AT EUROPEAN LEVEL l 1995 European pilot project for implementation national systems l 1997 Recommendations of the European commission l 2000 ENQA l 2001 Joint Quality Initiative l 2003 European Consortium for Accreditation

Bern 29 April Based on a tour d’Europe of a Dutch/Flemish delegation Founded in Maastricht September 2001 Action program: Cross border quality assessment Sharing experience and discussing standards of BaMa Initiate cross-national benchmarking Franchising and quality assurance Comparison of conceptualisations of accreditation

Bern 29 April

Bern 29 April 2004 Master’s degrees are awarded to students who: have demonstrated knowledge and understanding that is founded upon and extends and/or enhances that typically associated with Bachelor’s level, and that provides a basis or opportunity for originality in developing and/or applying ideas, often within a research context; can apply their knowledge and understanding, and problem solving abilities in new or unfamiliar environments within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their field of study; have the ability to integrate knowledge and handle complexity, and formulate judgements with incomplete or limited information, but that include reflecting on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgements; can communicate their conclusions, and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these, to specialist and non-specialist audiences clearly and unambiguously; have the learning skills to allow them to continue to study in a manner that may be largely self-directed or autonomous.

Bern 29 April Dublin descriptors already used in some countries in the accreditation framework important because the discussion is about competencies but descriptors too generic, opertaionalisation needed therefore discussion about European Qualiyfication framework, including Doctorate

Bern 29 April 2004 NVAO European Consortium for Accreditation ECA

Bern 29 April 2004 ECA  ECA is an agreement for co-operation between 12 accrediting bodies in 8 countries (The Hague June 2003, Cordoba, October 2003)  Participants :  Austria : Der Österreichischen Akkreditierungsrat  Der Fachhochschulrat  Germany: Akkreditierungsrat  ZeVa, FIBAA,ACQUIN, AQAS  Ireland: HETAC  The Netherlands and Belgium: NVAO  Norway: Nokut  Spain: ANECA  Swizerland: OAQ

Bern 29 April 2004 CHARACTERISTICS OF ECA project organization with fixed output: mutual recognition Fixed time schedule: mutual recognition before the end of 2007 evaluation of activities end of 2004 Funding by the participants Mutual recognition: formal acknowledgement of accreditation decisions in one country by the competent authority in an other country

INTERMEDIATE AIMS development of a common framework for accreditation serving national needs and the needs of the European Higher Education Area. exchange of experiences and good practices concerning accreditation, especially with regard to the European dimension to develop criteria and procedures for mutual recognition of accreditation decisions to contribute to the development of accreditation in the light of the Bologna process and the follow-up of Berlin 2003.

Bern 29 April 2004 ACTIVITIES l to describe clearly the specificity of accreditation l working groups l a workshop twice a year l Organize or participate in conferences for share accreditation experiences with a wider audience l A website l analysis of accreditation and assessment procedures of the participants

Bern 29 April 2004 Working groups on: l mutual recognition l a European Qualification framework l European format report l political paper Bergen 2005 l Alternative approaches for accreditation Next meeting: Bergen June 2004

Bern 29 April 2004 Basic condition for Europe wide Quality Assurance is a common framework l Shared descriptors BA/MA/Ph.d l Shared idea about basic quality l Subject specific benchmark standards for learning outcomes l Equivalent quality assessment system/quality model l Principals of good practice for an EQA-agency l Equivalent accreditation system: quality label has international value

Bern 29 April 2004 Some obstacles l Cultural differences l National prejudice l National protectionism l Language problems It is a challenge to keep diversity, while promoting quality, equivalency and transparency.