INTITUTIONAL AUDIT & (SELF)-ACCREDITATION Ton Vroeijenstijn

INTITUTIONAL AUDIT &(SELF)-ACCREDITATION

Ton Vroeijenstijn

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

PROGRAMME OF THE DAY

What do you expect from this workshop?

HEQC policy for audit and accreditation

General introduction into quality and quality assurance

A quality model for Higher Education– at institutional level– at program level

How to organise internal quality assurance

The need for external quality assessment

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

WHY QUALITY ASSURANCE IS NEEDED

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTSelite HE mass Higher Education

central steering more autonomy

autonomy asks for accountability

student consumer orientation

Higher Education compete with other sectors of society

HE value for money

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

WHY QUALITY ASSURANCE IS NEEDED

South African developments

The programme for the transformation of Higher EducationThe National Qualification FrameworkHigher Education act 1997 HEQCHEQC: program for Institutional audit and programme accreditation (June 2002)

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

SOME STATEMENTSQA is not a science, but common sense

Instruments are important, but the right attitude is much more

important

QA is the responsibility of everybody

QA should be part of the overall policy and management

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QUALITY IN INDUSTRYISO-9000 + ISO-certificateTQMEFQM-model

ButHE is not a factoryWho is the client? What the product?HE is a professional organisationConcept of quality more complicatedaccountability

VSNU

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM

INTERNAL EXTERNAL

SELF ANALYISEXTERNAL ASSESSMENT

ACCREDITATION

QUALITY PLAN

ACCOUNTABILITY

IMPROVEMENT

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What is quality?? many conceptsmany definitionsmany interpretations

Satisfaction of the clientfitness for purpose

multi-dimensional conceptcontextual bound

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Stakeholders

government

academic world

students

employers

society at large

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WHAT IS QUALITY??PRODUCT QUALITY

standardscompetenciesacademic qualificationprofessional qualification

fitness of purpose

* knowledge* skills * attitude

PROCESS QUALITYquality of provisionsquality of program

fitness for purpose

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Quality as a matter of negotiating

Requirements :* students * academics * employers * government* society

Translation of the requirements in the mission &goals and aims

Achieving the goals is QUALITY

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Can quality be measured?

Quantitative indicators (Performance indicators)

pass ratesdrop outstaff/student rationumber of publicationscitation index

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performance indicators&

peer review

PART 2HOW DO WE KNOW OUR PERFORMANCE

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

HOW DO WE KNOW

that we are doing the right things?That we are doing the right things in a right way?That we are providing quality?That are graduates are meeting the expected requirements?

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HOW TO COPE WITH SELF-ACCREDITATION?

Positive outcomes institutional audit provides the right of self accreditationSelf –accreditation means assurance of at least threshold quality. QA based on self-analysis and external assessment

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HOW DO WE KNOW

that we are doing the right things?That we are doing the right things in a right way?That we are providing quality?That are graduates are meeting the expected requirements?

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INTERNAL SELF ASSESSMENT

SWOT-analysis:

S= strengths

W= weaknesses

O=opportunities

T=threats

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INSTITUTIONAL AUDIT

ASSESSMENT CORE ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH EDUCATION SERVICE

Product quality Process quality

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

VSNU

PURPOSE OF THE SELF ASSESSMENT

Do we achieve our goals??

Diagnose of strengths and weaknesses

Aiming at improvement

Stimulus for internal quality management

Self regulation

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

THE SELF EVALUATIONTHE SELF EVALUATION

is not only descriptive

but analytical and critical

looks for how to solve problems

it is never a PR document

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

Missionstatement

goals&

aims

expected outcomes

process

study programmes

researchprojects

communityservices

output

graduates

scientificproduction

services

QQUALITY MODEL HIGHER EDUCATIONUALITY MODEL HIGHER EDUCATION© Vroeijenstijn

input

management

policy

staff

students

funding

facilities

Realisedmission

Achievedgoals

Achievedoutcomes

Satisfactionstakeholders

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

Goals&ai

ms

program preconditions output

contents

organisation

assessment

facilities

students

staff

satisfaction

Pass ratedrop out

Achieved standards

Cost per student

Didactic concept

graduation time

Opinion students

Opinion alumni

Opinion labour market

Opinion society

Opinion staff

Curriculumdesign

Internal quality

assurance

© VroeijenstijnQQUALITY MODEL EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIESUALITY MODEL EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

Goals

and

ai

ms

Input:•leadership •management•policy •funding •facilities •personnel

Process:

•activity 1•activity 2

•etc

Satis-faction

clientand

feed-backfrom

the

client

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

Program review or departmental?

Why program assessment and not departmental?Advantages and disadvantages of program assessmentAdvantages and disadvantages of departmental rogram assessment How to connect program accreditation/assessment with the departmental structure?

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EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT

Quality audit of an institution

programme review

research assessment

accreditation/certification

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Purpose of external assessment

Internal function: Quality assurance Improvementbench marking self regulation

External function: Accountabilityinsight into qualityinsight into diversityhall mark for quality

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FUNCTIONS OF THE REVIEW COMMITTEE

Consultantquality improvementfeedback to the facultydialogue with the facultyincentive for internal quality management

Accountant/controllerlegitimization internal quality managementaccountability

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CONSEQUENCESDiagnose by committee

Quality plan

Follow up check

Next assessment

Self assessment

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VSNUVSNU

THE FOLLOW UPKeep in mind:

internal and external quality assessment without follow up does not make sense

however, there is no direct relation between outcomes of assessment and improvement;

innovation of HE is very complicated and delicate process

although many changes do not cost money, bigger changes are asking for investments

PART 3THE SELF ANALYSIS IN PRACTICE

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

CONDITIONS FOR SELF ANALYSES

Internal motivationsupport of managementtaking into account the specific identity of departmentclear fixed processwell organised project

VSNU

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

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PURPOSE OF THE SELF ASSESSMENT

Do we achieve our goals??

Diagnose of strengths and weaknesses

Aiming at improvement

Stimulus for internal quality management

Self regulation

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

VSNUVSNU

THE SELF EVALUATIONTHE SELF EVALUATION

is not only descriptive

but analytical and critical

looks for how to solve problems

it is never a PR document

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ORGANISATION

•Who does what?•Who is responsible for what?•What to evaluate?•What information is available?•What time is available?•What money is available?

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QUESTIONS

What is quality?What criteria may be used ?How to measure quality ?How to discover strengths and weaknesses ?

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QUALITY QUESTIONS

Are we doing the right things?Are we doing the right things in the right way?rdo we achieve what we want to achieve?

Quality is achieving the generally accepted goals

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CRITERIA

There are no objective criteriadecide upon criteria to be used discuss them take care for support

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¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

THE ORGANISATION OF THE SELF EVALUATION

THE ORGANISATION OF THE SELF EVALUATION

the design of the project: why do we do it? who does what? the organisation: steering group; working groupthe realisation of the self assessment: collecting data; writing draft reportsdiscussion with staff and studentsre-drafting or the reportthe final reportIn total it will take about 6 months

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MAIN CONDITIONS FOR SELF-EVAULATION

good organisation

general involvement

strict time schedule

no PR-document

not only description, but:

analysis+ problem solving

set criteria beforehand

¾ September 2002 Workshop UNISA

CONCLUSIONS

The answer to national developments of HEQC is the development of internal quality assurance based on self-assessment and external assessmentThe focus is on program not on the departmentThe development of good procedures (handbook) and organizational structure is necessaryAll attention for quality should be based on the importance for the institution and not for the sake of HEQC