Transcript fdhdfhdhdh - ENQA: European Association for Quality

Student Involvement in Quality Assurance in
Higher Education
The case of Norway presented by Tove Blytt Holmen
The Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Norway
 42 state-owned HEIs (6 full-scale universities, 5
specialized universities, 25 university colleges, 2
academies of fine art and 4 military colleges).
70% of the students attend state-owned
universities.
 20 private HEIs with financial support from the
state (1 specialized university, 1 university
college, 18 not accredited as institution).
30% of the students attend private institutions
for higher education.
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Governance at the Institutional Level
 The Board of each state-owned HEI will consist of eleven
members: four academic representatives, one representative
from the technical and administrative staff, two student
representatives, four external members appointed by the Ministry
 Student representatives should have at lest 20% of the seats,
two seats at the minimum, in all executive bodies of the
institution
 For a private institution the Board shall be composed by at least
five members and have representatives from the students and
staff. If the Board has more than ten members, the groups
representing studients and staff shall have at least two members.
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NOKUT’s Board
 Overall responsibility for NOKUT’s activities and
decisions
 Eight members: one student, one staff, the other six
are not defined
Appeals Board
 Six members of which two are students
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Institutional Autonomy
Universities
Specialised
universities
Accredited
university
colleges
Nonaccredited
PhD.
Master
Bachelor
Power to establish any study programme (BA, MA, PhD)
Power is limited. The institusjonen can not offer study
programmes in the field without accreditation and a final
decision by The Ministry of Education.
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The Norwegian Model of Quality Assurance
Accreditation
Revision of
accreditation
HEIs
and their
portefolio
QAS
Audit
Revision of
accreditation
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Standards for institutional quality assurance systems
 Satisfactorily documentation
 Applicable to the whole process of teaching and
learning
 Capable of revealing poor quality
 Includes routines to ensure continous improvement of
the system
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Programme accreditation; standards and criteria
•
•
•
•
•
Curriculum
Staff
Internationalisation
Infrastructure
Quality assurance
The criteria are fairly detailed, but gives the experts
room for qualitative judgements
All criteria have to be met at a certain minimum level
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Experts - Important competencies
 High level of academic understanding


Regarding the institution as a whole (audit and
institutional accreditation)
Regarding the specific programme (re-accreditation of
programmes)
 Experience on how to communicate on equal basis
 Personal integrity
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 NOKUT will search for experts within it’s own network
 Generally NOKUT will not ask for proposals from
institutions on expert candidates
 … other than from the student unions
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Training of experts
 Training of experts will differ concerning standing
committees for auditing and ad-hoc committees for
accreditation of programmes
 Experts from society/employers and student are two
of a kind
 Re-use of experts from one evaluation to another
 We will try to engage former (student) experts to tell
about their experience when a new panel meets for
the first time
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… something to think about?
 Students are natural members of panels that
evaluates quality assurance systems, study
programmes and HEIs for accreditation purposes
 Students act as board members of QAAs
 If we believe in student value, involving students in
external evaluation of higher education as well as of
QAAs will be a proof of this
 If we don’t believe in student value – why be afraid to
try? (As long as we have such a profound belief in the
other members’ capasity)
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