Template guidance for the implementation of harmonised Quality Assurance Systems

Activities

3.1 Review of the current QA and accreditation systems in education in Europe

3.2 Design and development of a template guidance document for the implementation of QA systems

The questionnaire regarding the basic criteria for quality assurance of BME curricula was filled in for 20 countries. Countries included in the review were:

Nineteen countries out of 20 resulted to have a National legislation for Quality and Evaluation in Higher Education. Only for Serbia the Universities resulted completely independent from the National legislation.

In the 19 countries with a National legislation for quality assessment of Higher education, the regulations were established between 1991 and 2007, with periodic modifications and up-dates. The only exception is Israel, where the legislation was established in 1958.

In all the 19 countries a subject external to the University performs the quality assessment. In 16 out of 20 countries this subject is either the Ministry of Education directly and/or a National Committee or Agency designated by the Ministry of higher education. In Portugal the quality assessment is performed by ENQA (European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher          Education) in coordination with the National Council, which is designated by the Ministry of Education. In Slovenia the evaluation is performed by a University local Quality committee, but the legislation is currently changing, introducing a National committee designated by the ministry. Finally, in Latvia the evaluation is performed by external experts and reviewers selected by a national committee.

The quality control is performed in the different countries with a cadence varying from every year, the most common solution, up to every 6 years, with a fixed cadence.

In 15 countries out of 20 there provided a response regarding the existence of a specific quality management implemented with a specific regulation or BME study programs. In 6 of these 15 countries a local committee performs quality control, without any specific regulation referring to BME programs. In 9 of these 15 countries the general control over the programs is implemented merely responding to the requirements of national regulations.

Of the 20 countries 16 provided responses regarding what dimensions are taken into consideration in the quality assessment procedure. Different dimensions can be evaluated by different subjects, either at national (Ministry or Committee or Agency) or at local (University, Department, Faculty or Program Level) or even at external level (experts and/or industry). The students attending the program can also evaluate some dimensions. Results regarding what dimensions are evaluated and by whom are reported in table 1 (some dimensions can be evaluated by more than one subject at the same time).