In recent years, several European countries have implemented quality audits1 as an approach to external quality assurance in higher education. 1 When discussing audits, the editors refer to all external quality assurance procedures that target an institution's internal quality management system. 2 AQA – Austrian Quality Assurance Agency, Alexander Kohler (2009): Trends of quality assurance and quality management in higher education systems.
How does the agency ensure that it does not violate the institution's autonomy when carrying out external quality assurance procedures? What support measures can the agency provide to an institution prior to the audit and during the procedure? What developments does the agency expect for external quality assurance in the country and in the EHEA.
Terminology, purpose and aim of the audit
While the Bucharest Communiqué for the Bologna Process calls for cross-border activities in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), there is still national legislation stating that this is optional – the issue of internationalization is one of the challenges that agencies face. In fact, in Britain the term 'audit' has become maligned and is no longer used by quality assurance bodies. If a higher education institution has an internal quality assurance system, it can opt for one 'system accreditation'.
The supporting aspect of the audit is very explicit in the Swiss and Scottish models. The Swiss audit "describes the current state of the quality measures" and should "be part of a process of reflection to assist the higher education institution". Due to occasional confusion with financial audit and investigative approaches, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (QAA) has decided to replace the term 'audit'.
National legislation
In most European countries, higher education institutions are required by law to develop internal quality assurance policies and mechanisms. However, these rights may differ between different categories of higher education institutions and also from country to country. In other systems, audits have a different role, as they are part of the state administration of higher education institutions.
The Swiss audit is a prerequisite for receiving federal subsidies, and the higher education institution may even lose some of its federal funding if it fails an audit. In all the countries/agencies, audits were often developed in collaboration with higher education institutions. 3 ENQA, EUA, EURASHE and ESU Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area.
Scope of the audit
It has been suggested that the absence of research on revision in most countries is the result of three interrelated factors: the focus on teaching and learning in the Bologna process; the historical development of external quality assurance procedures in different countries (program accreditation); and ESG, which in their current version are not intended to cover research. ESG is not mentioned explicitly in all audit models, but agencies refer to them in their daily operations and in the development of their external quality assurance procedures. With the assumption that a quality assurance system can only be useful if it is effective, the assessment of the institutions' capacity to benefit from their own quality management processes is another subject of the audits carried out by the various agencies.
Institutions must demonstrate that the implementation of their quality assurance system guarantees the quality of their core tasks. The notion of quality culture has become widespread in both higher education institutions and quality assurance agencies. In other countries these topics are considered to be covered by other types of external quality assurance procedures, such as accreditation of study programs or.
Audit procedure
Before submitting their report, higher education institutions may ask agencies for feedback regarding the clarity of the information provided. Although this can be an awkward step, it helps improve the quality of the entire process. Panels usually consist of between three and six peers, depending on the scope of the audit.
At the end of the visit, the higher education institution may be asked to provide further documentation before the second site visit. Depending on the findings of the first visit, the panel looks for evidence of an effective internal quality assurance system in specific areas. The type of decisions taken by the agency depends on the purpose of the audit, as described in chapter I.1.
Impact/effects of the audit
Some agencies organize discussions with different stakeholders from higher education institutions to debate the results of the audit and the consequences that these can or should have on the individual institution, on the national system of higher education or even on legal provisions. The examples given by several countries prove that one of the consequences of the first round of auditing was the establishment of quality assurance units in higher education institutions. Additionally, discussion of the effect of the audit on the quality assurance agency itself is required.
As 'learning organisations', agencies use feedback from the outcome of the assessment to further develop their process, be it the process itself or its scope and themes. One common outcome of impact analyzes (regardless of how they are conducted) is that agencies use the results to develop audit methodology and the scope of the process. This meant that evidence on the effects of internal quality management could not always be carefully reviewed.
Current and future challenges and developments
Moreover, the focus of quality assurance procedures shifts from assessing the performance of the higher education institution to evaluating internal quality management. A quality management system will therefore also take into account social needs and adapt to the changing circumstances of the higher education sector as a whole. Thus, controlling them becomes less important, and improvement-oriented procedures are assumed to be more in line with the objectives of higher education institutions.
This seems to be the wish of the higher education institutions themselves, as they are interested in feedback not only about their internal quality assurance system, but also about their study programs. This leads to the question of how to deal with the diversity of higher education institutions, not only in terms of size and profile, but also in terms of the stage of development of their internal quality management system. Here it is debatable whether equality is achievable, as all procedures must focus on the advancement and development of the higher education institution's internal quality assurance, and therefore respect its individual profile and approach.
Closing remarks
The institution wants to get feedback from someone with a more distant view of its own higher education system. While answering these questions may provide an opportunity to help agencies progress and develop quality assurance processes, this cannot be done without reflecting on the EHEA and the role played by the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) .
Agency reports
National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of
- How the higher education institution defines its quality policy and goals
- How the higher education institution assures the quality of its programmes
- How the higher education institution orientates its programmes towards the students
- How the higher education institution assures and enhances the quality of its academic staff
- How the higher education institution manages and improves its physical resources and services
- How the higher education institution analyses and takes into con- sideration the outcomes
- How the higher education institution publishes information on degree pr ogram mes
The purpose of this evaluation program is to facilitate and strengthen the design and implementation of the universities' internal quality assurance systems. The final phase of the audit program will enable the certification process of the implemented internal quality assurance system to be completed. Examples of the guidelines to help higher education institutions design and implement internal quality assurance systems are given below.
Have mechanisms in place to obtain, assess and check information on the current state of the above processes. Have mechanisms in place to obtain information about the needs and expectations of the various stakeholders in relation to the quality of the programmes. The institution can ask the agency for a preliminary meeting (including a visit) to check the level of implementation of the internal quality assurance system.
Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation (AQ Austria)
The assessment is a cyclic peer peer review, the aim of which is to assess the organization and effectiveness/performance of the institution's quality management system. In addition to the purpose of the procedure, further differences between assessment and accreditation naturally arise from the assessment areas that need to be reviewed. 22 (1): "The certification of the quality management system of the educational institution is based on the evaluation of the assessment areas".
Until the launch of the HS-QSG in March 2012, audits in Austria were only carried out on a voluntary basis for public universities. The audit is related to other external quality assurance procedures carried out by AQ Austria in that the validity of a college's accreditation status depends on a positive certification from the audit process. The scope of AQ Austria's audit model includes certain assessment areas, with more detail provided in the standards.
The higher education institution has defined objectives and pursues a strategy which is systematically supported by management tools
The quality management system supports the higher education institution in achieving its objectives
The quality management system uses evaluation procedures, monitoring and information systems as integral components
The quality management system is based on the quality approach of the higher education institution and provides for the systematic involve -
- Catalan University Quality
- Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education
- THE EXTERNAL EVALUATION QUALITY DEPARTMENT discusses
- The Danish Accreditation Institution
- The preparatory phase
- Documentation
- Public reporting
- Decision and follow-up
- Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council (FINHEEC)
- Internal and external quality assurance at higher education institutions
- External quality assurance procedures outside of the audit
- Consequences of an audit
- External quality assurance of the agency
- Audit stages
- Supportive measures before the audit process
- Audit teams and auditor pool
- Audit visit
- Follow-up
- Audit outcome reports
- Independent impact studies
- German Accreditation Council (GAC)
- Prerequisites for admission and preliminary assessment
- Review process
- Panel
- Reports
- Decision and follow up
- Evaluation procedure
- Analyses and assessments
- Results and consequences
- Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT)
- Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO)
- Swiss Center of Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher
- Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (England, Wales
- Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education Scotland (QAA
It is important that audit trails focus on the effectiveness of the quality assurance system at the higher education institution and not on specific quality problems. Third, accreditation is only one of the methods of regulation and management in the field of higher education. One of the fundamental ideas of the FINHEEC audits was to respect the autonomy of higher education institutions.
In the first round of the audit, nine of the 49 audited higher education institutions had to undergo a re-audit. For the second round of assessment, which began in 2012, a larger share of higher education institutions requested international assessment. The assessment procedure of an individual higher education institution covers all the above-mentioned assessment objectives.
For example, in 2012 it was decided to support the quality management of the internationalization of higher education institutions. Quality audits have guided the design and development of the quality assurance system at Swiss universities. Completing the external evaluation report by the expert panel (in two steps) and the OAQ.
QAA is also a member of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) and participates in the Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN).
