Transcript National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance

Transitional period challenges in
Armenian tertiary education QA system:
Building the TRUST
Ruben Topchyan
ANQA Director
On-going policies in Eastern area and the main obstacles
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
Zagreb (Croatia), 12-13 June 2014
OUTLINE
2
 Armenian Tertiary Level Institutions
 ANQA mission
 Achievements leading to building trust
 Overall impact on the Higher Education System
 Empowering HEIs in IQA: revising ownership potential
 Triggering changes at teaching and learning level
 Closing pilot accreditations period
 Challenges
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
Armenia:
general information on tertiary education
3
Population: 2,967,004 (July 2009 est.)
18 public universities and 13 branches
3 intergovernmental universities
48 private universities
37 private accredited universities
5 branches of international and nonstate universities
3 branches of international public
universities
83 public colleges
34 vocational institutions
12 private accredited colleges
11 private licensed colleges
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
ANQA mission
4
ANQA strives to promote public trust, social cohesion, equity,
responsibility and competitiveness through systematic
enhancement of tertiary level education provisions.
It does so by
 being receptive to the needs of the national stakeholders through
its mandatory institutional audits and voluntary programme
accreditation
 complying with international standards for quality assurance
 ensuring visibility at international level thus contributing to a
stronger positioning of the Armenian tertiary education within
Europe
 valuing close cooperation with stakeholders in the process of
developing a quality assurance system.
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
Quality Assurance Framework:
Giving Autonomy and Taking Responsibility
5
 Top down system of HEI management
 Institutional Accreditation - Mandatory
 HEI management audit – development of QA culture
 Mission
 Governance
 Academic program
 Teaching staff
 Learning environment
 Student provision
 Research
 Service to society
 Internationalization
 Internal QA system
 Program Accreditation - Voluntary
 Connecting to government financing
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
Overall impact on the Higher Education System:
External Quality Assurance
6
 Consistent application of publicly available procedures
and criteria
 Quality Criteria – which provide for development and
enhancement
 Established procedures and respective documentation
 Involvement of international peers and bilingual
procedure
 Establishment of Accreditation Commission drawing on
the nominations of key stakeholders
 Environmental scan: in-depth analysis of the Selfevaluation Reports and Expert Panel Reports
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
Overall impact on the Higher Education
System: External Quality Assurance
7
 Drawing on system-wide analysis on quality assurance –
development of grant projects for capacity building
 TEMPUS
 Internal QA and External QA establishment – DIUS, PICQA
 A move from fragmented to systemic approach to HEI management GOVERN
 QA of transnational providers - TNE_QA
 Alignment and checking the alignment of Study Programs with NQF - ALIGN
 Development of PhD qualifications – VERITAS
 Internationalization of educational processes – PICASA
 Establishment of links between HEIs – Labor Market – ARARAT
 Master’s programme in training educational leaders – MAHATMA
 World Bank
 ANQA capacity building –ARQATA
 Trainings of IQA responsible in HEI
 UNESCO – Scoping study on QA in Caucasus
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
8
Overall impact on the Higher Education System:
a move from fragmented to systemic
approach in HEI governance and management
 Need of informative decision-making culture
 Widening of teaching staff involvement –
as guarantee of sustainability
 Pro-active involvement of top-management – as a
guarantee of success
 Revision of management approaches to promote a
systemic approach to HEI development
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
Empowering HEIs in IQA:
revising ownership potential
9
 Development of a culture of regular selfassessment
 Self-critical approach
 A move from descriptive to analytical approach
 Specifying and clearly stating objectives for
development
 Ownership for processes
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
Empowering HEIs in IQA:
revising ownership potential
10
 Employment of benchmarking tool in different
areas, mainly for programs
 Revision of the role of IQA unit
 Actual application of a mission-based approach to
HEI and programme management
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
Triggering changes at teaching and
learning level
11
 Move to a learning outcome approach to study
programme development
 Revision of assessment methods to incorporate
assessment of learning outcomes
 Revision of teaching and learning methods linked to
learning outcomes
 Strengthening research component of study
programmes
 Linking research and teaching and learning
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
Closing the pilot phase
12
Building legitimacy: QA criteria and standards tested for
appropriateness
Closure of the first round of report development,
readable
Building on experience of self evaluation and use of the
peers recommendations – ANQA and HEIs
Equipping HEIs for the follow up activities
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
13
Closing the pilot phase
 Establishment and operationalization of Accreditation
Commission
 Taking decisions
 not stopping developments
 ANQA has undergone proof evaluation against ESGs
 Revision of ANQA approaches drawing on the extensive
feedback of national and international stakeholders
 Closing first cycle of Institutional accreditation in - 2016.
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
Challenges
14
 Autonomy
 Of institutions
 Of faculties
 Empowering internal quality assurance of HEIs
 Student-centered education along its all domains
 Curricula development
 Credit system
 Internationalization
 Mobility
 Comparability
Tempus Higher Education Reform Experts Seminar on Quality Assurance
06/13/14
15
THANK YOU
&
QUESTIONS
www.anqa.am
[email protected]