The ESG Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area

1
The ESGStandards and Guidelines for Quality
Assurance in the European Higher Education Area

• Dr. Angele Attard
• Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport

2
QA in the Bologna Process

• Key Themes for HE in Europe
• Transparency
• Compatibility
• Comparability
• Flexibility
• Increasing focus on quality assurance
• Bologna 1999 ? Prague 2001 ? Berlin 2003
• ? Bergen 2005 (the European Standards and
  Guidelines)
• Drafted by ENQA with EUA, EURASHE and ESU
• Approved by Bologna Ministerial conference in
  Bergen (2005)
• ? London 2007 ? Leuven 2009
•  

3
Bergen 2005 Vision

• A European Higher Education Area with
• Strong, autonomous and effective higher education
  institutions
• A keen sense of the importance of quality and
  standards
• Good peer reviews
• Credible quality assurance agencies
• An effective register
• Increased co-operation with other stakeholders,
  such as employers.
• Standards and Guidlines for QA in the EHEA, ENQA
  Report, 2005, p.35
• Adopted in Bergen, 2005

4
The Purpose of the ESG

• to improve the higher education available to
  students in the EHEA
• to assist higher education institutions in
  managing and enhancing their quality and,
  thereby, to help to justify their institutional
  autonomy
• to form a background for quality assurance
  agencies in their work
• to make external quality assurance more
  transparent and simpler to understand.

5
What are standards/guidelines?

• Standards
• not meant to imply standardisation or
  requirements
• statements of basic good practice
• they are short and general
• Guidelines
• Meant as illustrations of the standards in
  action
• Provide additional information and
• Explain why the standards are important

6
The Nature of the ESG

• Meant to Be
• Generic, not specific, standards and guidelines
• A view of what should be done, not how it should
  be done
• A source of assistance and guidance
• Not Meant to Be
• Prescriptive
• A checklist
• A compendium of detailed procedures
• A European quality assurance system

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Categories of the ESG

• ESG for internal QA within Higher Education
  Institutions (Part 1)
• ESG for the External QA of Higher Education (Part
  2)
• ESG for External QA Agencies (Part 3)
• Principles largely the same

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Standards for Internal QA

• Higher Education Institutions
• Policy and procedures for internal QA
• Approval, monitoring and periodic review of
  programmes and awards
• Assessment of students
• Quality assurance of teaching staff
• Learning resources and student support
• Information systems
• Public information

9
Standards for External QA

• External Quality Assurance Systems
• Use of internal quality assurance procedures
• Development of external quality assurance
  processes
• Criteria for decisions
• Processes fit for purpose
• Reporting
• Follow-up procedures
• Periodic reviews (usu. 5 years)
• System-wide analyses.

10
Standards for External QA Agencies

• QA of the QA Agency Itself
• Ongoing external exercises in higher education
• Official status
• Resources
• Mission statement
• Independence
• External QA and processes used by the agencies
• Accountability procedures internal QA of the
  agency

11
Current QA Activity in Europe

• Most countries now have QA/accreditation agencies
• Mixture of
• Programme accreditation
• Iinstitutional accreditation
• Non-accrediting external quality assurance
  reviews
• Increasing use of European Standards Guidelines
  (ESG)

12
European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR)

• Mandated in Bergen (2005)
• Publicly available, web-based, information tool
• Consists of a list of QA agencies operating in
  Europe
• Voluntary, entry through compliance with ESG
• Evidenced by an external review
• First applications received in June 2008
• Contains basic information
• agencys name and contact information
• QA services provided by the agency
• Whether member of ENQA
• country where the agency is established
• countries in which the agency operates
• www.eqar.eu

13
EQARs Purposes

• promotes student mobility by providing a basis
  for the increase of trust among the HEIs
• reduces opportunities for accreditation mills
  to gain credibility
• provides a basis for governments to authorise
  HEIs to choose any agency from the Register, if
  that is compatible with national arrangements
• provides a means for HEIs to choose between
  different agencies, if that is compatible with
  national arrangements
• serves as an instrument to improve the quality of
  the quality assurance agencies and to promote
  mutual trust among them.

14
High Level Challenges

• The possibility to maintain subsidiarity as a
  central principle.
• The different perspectives and goals between
  governments, agencies, higher education
  institutions, students and other stakeholders.
• The risk that the register develops into a
  political rather than professional instrument.

15
QA Challenges for HEIs

• Main Principle Fitness for Purpose
• ECTS and Diploma Supplement
• Choice of the insitution vs. pressure from
  Bologna Reforms
• An issue in QA (internal external) Fitness for
  Purpose
• General
• Proper administration of QA processes
• Genuine improvement vs. a matter of process

16
QA needs in Europe

• Information about quality
• Public confidence in providers
• Reassurance about the value of qualifications
• Providers confidence in what theyre doing
• Encouragement for academic ownership of quality
  and standards
• Focus for good practice
• Encouragement for improvement in quality and
• Judgement of international comparability.
• Key Quality Assurance Processes, ESG
• Instrumental Use of DS and ECTS

17
QA The Way Forward

• Institutions take more responsibility for their
  own quality and quality assurance
• Consistent external QA procedures
• Shared values and understandings (European
  standards and guidelines)