elButlletí

A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

37

July 2008

• 
• 

In April this year, the "Internal Quality Assurance Systems and the European Standards and Guidelines" seminar was organised in Barcelona by the ENQA in conjunction with AQU Catalunya. The event was attended by 60 representatives from university quality agencies, some of which have already been accredited by the ENQA and others that are still in the certification process. In other words, the internal quality assurance systems of some of these agencies are already operational, while the systems of other agencies are still in the process of implementation.

An initial meeting in Copenhagen attended by internal quality managers from European agencies laid the foundations for the initiative to set up an Internal Quality Steering Group charged with encouraging dialogue among all agencies, fostering the discussion group hosted on the ENQA website and encouraging contacts and discussion by means of a yearly gathering.

The goal of the seminar was firstly to exchange experiences on those practices that best ensure the effectiveness and improvement of IQA systems and to gain an acquaintance of the strengths and weaknesses of each IQA system, inspired by various models (ISO, EFQM, a combination of the two, etc.). Secondly, the aim was to ensure the application of ESG (European standards and guidelines) as a key element of IQA.

During the seminar, five university quality agencies (AQU Catalunya, ANECA – Spain, NVAO – the Netherlands, ASIIN – Germany and NOKUT – Norway) presented their internal quality systems. Although the approach of each agency is based on differing models, whether it is inspired by the European model EFQM, whether it follows the guidelines set out in International Standard ISO 9001, or indeed whether it is directly founded on the agency’s own experience, every agency reaches similar conclusions, and most importantly they all comply with the ESG. Such a standard requires a quality assurance system.

Stemming from this experience, each agency presented conclusions which may be compiled in the form of principles for best practices or recommendations in order to achieve the most efficient system possible.

These recommendations include:

General recommendations:

• Quality systems must cover all quality processes.
• Responsibilities and authorisations must be clearly defined for each process.
• Activities conducted must encourage internal communications and active involvement on the part of the management.
• The effectiveness of the system is paramount if all members of the organisation are to agree to it and, accordingly, to ensure it remains operational.
• Regular assessment should be conducted on the system.
• Internal quality coordinators are recommended for all areas.
• Involvement and training of staff as a whole is a vital point that must be taken into consideration.
• Awareness needs to be raised with respect to quality in all demands.
• Central activities of agencies, such as accreditation, should not be subcontracted.

The main tools for leading agencies on the road to improvement include:

• Bolstering the presentation of assessment results by means of interaction between the various internal and external participants before written results.
• Taking into consideration the fact that suggestions for improvement may crop up at any time and should be compiled.
• Organising single-topic sessions on a yearly basis, wherein all members of the organisation will discuss potential suggestions for improvement.

Indicators and measures:

• Indicators must be useful and uniform for the greatest number of activities possible.
• Generally speaking, it is advisable to set at least two goals for each process. A high number of indicators render it impossible to carry out management on a daily basis.
• Additional indicators that are merely known by one individual should be eradicated.
• The ASIIN agency presented a highly visual way of defining indicators. Schematically speaking, the process they use is as follows: Firstly, they define the spheres of work on which action should be taken, for instance, the quality of groups of assessors and external experts. Next they determine which parameters are important, in other words, what parameters we value in an assessor (for instance, experience, impartiality, independence). From this starting point it is possible to determine what level of quality is expected, how it can be gauged, who is responsible for adopting measures and how often to do so.
  
  

Another interesting aspect to compare is the varying ways in which the processes presented in the seminar are mapped. Four agencies exchanged their maps.

All four are structured into three major groups of processes: strategic, operational and core processes, describing the main activities carried out, whether relating to accreditation, assessment, studies or support.

The greatest variation is observed with support processes. However, in all cases they bear a common characteristic: they are internal management or cross-disciplinary areas.

The support processes shared by the majority of agencies, which can consequently be deemed as minimally uniform, are related to human resources, data or document management, internal quality, computing systems and general services.

Strategic processes

ANECA	NVAO	ASIIN	AQU CATALUNYA
Strategic planning	Leadership, strategy and policy	Strategy and goals	Activity planning
Continual improvement			Innovation and development
			External relations and outreach

Management, operational and key processes

ANECA	NVAO	ASIIN	AQU CATALUNYA
Assessment programmes	Accreditation	Accreditation	Assessment of institutions and degree programmes
Preparation of global studies			Assessment of teaching staff
			Consultancy and training
			Studies

Suport processes

ANECA	NVAO	ASIIN	AQU CATALUNYA
Human resource management	Human resource management	Human resource management	Human resource management
	Internal quality	Continual improvement	Internal quality
Document management		Data security/ archiving	Information system management
Computing systems	ICT		Computer project management
	Support services	Management of cooperation with third parties	Identification and selection of experts
Facility management	General services	Infrastructure	Purchasing services and provisions
Economic management	Finance
	International issues		External relations management
	Communications		Communications and publications
	Further tasks
	Legal issues
		Leadership

The overall conclusions drawn include the fact that, regardless of the model employed – ISO, EFQM, both or neither – the conclusions and recommendations are highly similar. They all promote compliance with ESG.

In order to conclude, it is necessary to mention that the seminar was highly welcomed by all those who took part. Indeed, the new Steering Group formed by the agencies NVAO – the Netherlands, EVA – Denmark, AOQ – Switzerland and AQU Catalunya, plans to meet again during the third quarter of the year in order to organise a second seminar.