Quality and Quality Assurance in European Higher Education
Autor(en)
Jürgen Kohler
Preis
24,99 € (180 Seiten, PDF)
Beschreibung
Die Beiträge dieses E-Books sind in englischer Sprache erschienen.
Wir freuen uns, Ihnen Herrn Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kohler als ersten TRUSTED ADVISOR vorstellen zu dürfen. Als ehemaliger Rektor der Universität Greifswald und Vorsitzender des deutschen Akkreditierungsrats, aber auch für zahlreiche europäische Organisationen tätig, verfügt er über reiche Erfahrung mit europäischem, reflektiertem Blick auf den Bologna-Prozess. Dies macht ihn zu einem ausgewiesenen Experten insbesondere auf dem Gebiet der Qualitätssicherung in Studium und Lehre.
Inhalt
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“Quality” in Higher Education
The article analyses the concept of ‘quality’ in higher education with regard to various contexts and aspects: as a positive and negative buzz word; as a vehicle to transport specific political objectives; as a matter of choice between a number of concepts. The article also undertakes to describe the development of aims, tools, and effects of both internal and external quality assurance criteria and processes in the European Higher Education Area. It eventually broadens the view on ‘quality’ to institution-based concepts and prerequisites of quality and quality assurance by focussing on links to quality culture and good governance, and tries to sketch probable further developments in terms of opportunities and challenges.
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Institutional and Programme Approaches to Quality
This article describes several approaches to developing quality study programmes and to assessing this quality. It clarifies matters of terminology, introduces the basic categories of quality approaches, and offers a short survey of current practices and contextualities in Europe, before providing an extensive analysis of the key features of these different approaches. These are commonly described either as focusing on programmes – i.e. based on a compliance test or on a fitness of and for purpose methodology – or as focusing on the institution, i.e. on institutional processes geared towards the quality of study programmes. This analysis is followed by close scrutiny of the pros and cons of these quality approaches, including a description of possible options for improvement. The article concludes by pointing out challenges and opportunities in the context of possible future developments in Europe.
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Typology of the Degree Structure
This article outlines the purposes, methodology, and challenges linked to the introduction of a common European degree structure which is shared in substance and not merely in nomenclature. To that end, the concept of the Framework for Qualifications of the European Higher Education Area, as introduced by the Bergen Communiqué, and its significance for national qualifications frameworks is focused upon, examining the design of qualifications frameworks around aspects of cycle and level, workload, learning outcomes, competences and profile, with specific reference to the so-called Dublin Descriptors. These technical features will be embedded in an analysis of the political background and aspirations behind the drive towards a shared typology of a European degree structure. A survey of future issues arising from the concept and the underlying political issues may eventually help to identify key areas of the ongoing debate.
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Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA
Content and Consequences, Pros and Cons
The Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area contain key features and descriptors for a shared understanding of what are considered to be tasks, criteria, and procedures of quality assurance in the ‘Bologna’ higher education area. This article provides an introduction to this issue and to the standards and guidelines pertaining to it, analyses the interests and purposes linked to these standards and guidelines, describes the concrete consequences to be drawn from these rules, and finally makes a tentative judgment on pros and cons.
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Bologna Instruments as Tools in Support of Enhancing Mobility and Internationalisation
This article discusses the ways and means by which the mobility and internationalisation instruments introduced or developed in the course of the Bologna process – including recognition rules, qualification frameworks, ECTS as a holistic system and quality assurance – are designed and used to achieve their objectives. Mobility and internationalisation are both seen by the Bologna process as major political objectives. While the article limits itself primarily to “technical” aspects, the underlying idea is that explanation and advice on application of the Bologna instruments may help to stimulate the commitment of higher education institutions to further development of mobility and internationalisation.