International projects
ENHANCING INTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEMS
Organisations (1)
| no. |
Code |
Research organisation |
City |
Registration number |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
0510 |
University of Ljubljana |
Ljubljana |
5085063 |
250 |
Abstract
Recent European reports on QA show that HEIs have made progress in establishing internal quality assurance (IQA) systems based on ENQA’s European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) for QA in the EHEA, but they need practical advice on the interpretation of the ESG 2015 and support in further development of IQA. The progress in the implementation of IQA systems varies greatly among HEIs in the four countries participating in the project and many of them are yet to have fully-fledged systems in place. The QA Agencies in the four countries are committed to enhancing their methodologies for the assessment of IQA systems as part of their external evaluations based on the exchange of good practice and strengthening their cooperation with a view to exchanging experts. The ENQA-coordinated external review of the Polish Accreditation Agency (PKA) in 2014 recommended that the Agency should produce a Guide to IQA/ Code of Good Practice in IQA for HEIs.
Against this background, the project ‘Enhancing Internal Quality Assurance Systems’ (EIQAS) had two objectives:
1) to increase the capacity of higher education institutions in the participating countries to develop internal quality assurance by enhancing their awareness and understanding of Part 1 of the ENQA European Standards and Guidelines and identifying, developing and disseminating good innovative practice in internal quality assurance; and
2) to increase the capacity of the participating QA agencies in external quality assurance by comparing their methodologies for the assessment of internal quality assurance and exchanging and developing good practice in IQA assessment.
EIQAS brought together four QA Agencies, PKA (Poland), NEAA (Bulgaria), A3ES (Portugal) and SQAA (Slovenia), the Polish and Portuguese Rectors’ Conferences (KRASP and CRUP) and 3 HEIs from Slovenia and Portugal (University from Minho, Nova Gorica and Ljubljana). The main activities of the project included:
- a comparative analysis of the QA Agencies’ methodologies for the assessment of IQA systems to identify good and transferrable practice;
- a survey on IQA and the ESG to identify the main problems faced by HEIs in IQA and in the interpretation of Part 1 of the ESG;
- three Training Events (C1, C2, C3): a seminar on IQA and the ESG for the QA Agencies and HEIs; training for the QA Agencies’ experts involved in external evaluations; and special training for students-experts involved in the QA Agencies’ external evaluations;
- the production of Training Event 1 publications on IQA and Part 1 of the ESG;
- dissemination activities at institutional, national and European levels, including multiplier events designed not only to promote the project’s outputs but also to share the expertise gained by project participants.
The project produced the following main outputs:
- a reference framework for comparative analysis of the QA Agencies’ methodologies for assessing IQA systems, and a comparative report on their methodologies identifying good transferrable practice;
- country reports and a cross-country report on HEIs’ main problems in the implementation of IQA systems and the interpretation of Part 1 of the ESG;
- a Guide to IQA for HEIs, including general guidelines, practical advice on each Part 1 ESG and good practice examples from each of the four countries under each ESG;
- a Students Guide to ESG focusing on issues under each Part 1 ESG which are specifically relevant to students; and
- a report proposing a framework for further training of QA Agency experts and arrangements for the exchange of experts among the Agencies.
