Quality Assurance System in the FinnishHigher Education

3LUCEspoo 8.2.2007

Anna-Kaarina Kairamoanna-kaarina.kairamo@tkk.fi

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Quality Assurance in the FinnishHigher Education

Elements:• National higher education policy (Ministry of

Education– e.g. Bologna process)

• National evaluation ( FINHEEC), e.g.– Evaluations of higher education institutions:

• audits of quality assurance systems of higher education institutions

• evaluations for the accreditation of the polytechnics– Programme and thematic evaluations– Accreditation of professional courses offered by higher

education institutions– Nomination of Centres of Excellence in HE

• Higher education institutions' own quality assurance procedures and mechanisms

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Centres of Excellence in university education

Nominated by FINHEEC• Centres of excellence in university education 2007-

2009– 2 at TKK (out of 20)

• Universities of excellence in adult education 2007-2009– Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration– Jyväskylä University– Helsinki University ofTechnology – Turku University

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University’s own quality assurance, case TKK

• Everyday process development• Development of QA system• Nomination of Centres of Excellence in teaching

– 3 internal Centres of Excellence

• Evaluation of departments, units, certain themes (with help of external bodies, e.g. FINHEEC, EUA, former CRE)– E.g. Evaluation of the Department of Civil and Environmental

Engineering

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Quality Audits

• Quality is one of the focal development areas in the formation of the EHEA (Bologna process,

• In Finland improvement of QA by auditing the quality assurance systems of HEIs (universities & polytechnics)

• To ensure by Quality Audits:- international credibility- continuous improvement of operations in

HEIs• European standards and guidelines included in the

model (http://www.enqa.eu/files/ENQA%20Bergen%20Report.pdf)

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Objectives (by FINHEEC)

• Support the HEIs in their quality assurance activities and improvement of operational quality

• Promote dialogue on quality assurance and interaction between HEIs and their stakeholders

• Collect and publish best practices in QA and promote their dissemination

• Audits as a development-oriented evaluation, which has strong traditions in Finnish evaluation practice

• Evaluate the QA system in terms of the audit criteria• Determine whether the HEI passes the audit or

needs to undergo a re-audit

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Procedure

• Schedule– 2004 -2005: the planning phase with two pilot audits – by 2011, all Universities and Polytechnics audited– HEI audited in 6-year cycles

• Auditing targets and criteria– 10 auditing targets – the ENQA standards for QA applied– Method

• QA documentation + site visit by a review team public report• the method is documented in the Audit Manual

• Based on audit, FINHEEC draws a conclusion:– the HEI will pass the audit, or,– due to shortages in its QA, the HEI will be subject to a re-

audit.

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Auditing targets (1)

1. Objectives and overall structure and internal coherence of the QA system

2. Documentation, including the formulation of quality policy and the definition of of procedures, actors and responsibilities

3. Comprehensiveness of the quality assurance – a) Degree education– b) Research/R & D– c) Interaction with and impact on society, contribution to

regional development– d) Support and other services (such as library and

information services, career and recruitment services and international services)

– e) Staff development

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Auditing targets (2)

• 4. Participation of staff, students and external stakeholders in QA

• 5. Interface between the QA system and management/steering• 6. Relevance of, and access to, QA information within the HEI • 7. Relevance of, and access to, QA information for external

stakeholders• 8. Efficiency of QA procedures and structures and their effect on

the development of activities• 9. Use of information produced by the QA system as a tool for

quality management and enhancement in education and other activities

• 10. Monitoring, evaluation and continuous development of the QA system

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• Audit Manual http://www.kka.fi/pdf/julkaisut/KKA_406.pdf

• FINHEEChttp://www.kka.fi/