Quality assurance of university education

Quality assurance system in university education
Macrolevel – intra-university;
Mezo-level - faculty;
Micro-level – department, teaching staff
3 levels of implementation of quality assurance system:

Objectives
international factor: located in the excalve territory of Russia, which is surrounded by the countries of highly developed system of university education, actively involved in Bologna process;
national factor: being an integral part of the system of higher education in Russia, the university propagates traditions and achievements of the national higher education in the westernmost territory of the country;
Major objective of IKSUR in terms of quality assurance is the persistence in raising the quality of all the aspects in its work to meet the demands of all the parties (actors of educational process, employers, wider society and public); development of the system of quality assurance and university management within the frameworks of European tendencies, major approaches and standards in quality assurance in education as well as the model of the quality assurance system in an educational institution in the Russian Federation.

Strategies
Continuous study, analysis and predicting the needs of all the parties concerned about the quality assurance (students, employers, university staff, society);
Stimulating favourable social and psychological environment in the university, developing the idea of corporate unity and belonging, involving the staff into university management;
Elaborating and implementing the technology of quality assurance in teaching and university management; developing the relevant reward system;
Elaborating a transparent and open, reliable system of quality assurance, comparable to the similar systems in partner European higher education institutions;
Continuous improvement of the education process based on the implementation of new managerial strategies; analysis of the methodological and informational support to the education process, analysis of the programmes to facilitate the education process;

Strategies
Forming a university environment promoting implementation of innovative teaching technologies into the educational process; study and creative application of the best practices of Russian and foreign universities; Improvement of legislature;
Vertical and horizontal diversification in the structure of specialist’s training and in educational programmes;
Upgrading the module of computer-based system of management in education process (all the stages from entering university to getting the graduates’ feedback);
Transition to the modern-type methodological approaches;
Facilitation of students’ self-study due to cutting down contact hours, improving the system of course selection; further introduction of ECTS elements (European credit transfer system);
Students’ involvement into the quality assurance in higher education;
Promotion to the social links (connection to employers, prospective applicants, etc.)

Expected outcomes in quality assurance
Correspondence of the outcomes to the expectations
Correspondence to the norms and criteria, established by the standards and national (and recently – international) authorities
Correspondence of the outcomes in education activities to the demands of vocational associations and society at large

The major educational process and the higher education institution and the parameters of the quality
Results of the current evaluation
Results of the evaluation of the teaching process
Results of the final examinations
Employer s’ demands to the quality of university graduates

Major steps in quality assurance
Internal expert evaluation
Regular self-evaluation (a complex analysis) in all aspects of university activity; monitoring of progress in the major university fields;
Regular systematic monitoring of educational programmes, curricula and working programmes in university disciplines with a view to updating them;
Analysis of the feasibility of current educational programmes and quality assurance in specialists’ training: initial evaluation, stage evaluation; final evaluation, post-final evaluation;
Systematic SWOT-analysis and internal audit of the educational process;
Analysis of the accreditation indicators, control over the compliance with the licensing regulations and basic conditions providing for the implementation of education process;
Monitoring of quality and quantity indicators in education process;
Continuous evaluation of the degree the students’ and graduates’ demands to the quality of the educational process are met;
Evaluation of the employers feedback in terms of quality o university training.

Major steps in quality assurance
External expert evaluation
(assessment of the core of the educational process, quality assurance, assessment of the conditions for the educational process, correlating to the established regulations, identification of shortcomings and advantages)
expert evaluation carried out by the leading Russian experts (complex analysis of the university activities, State Examination Board),
expert evaluation carried out by the external foreign experts (independent audit “Salzburg seminar”, audit of the international consortium “Eurofaculty”, programme validation within the frameworks of the “Bridge” project, etc.);
employers’ expert evaluation (sociological surveys, internships, involvement into the educational process)

Steps in quality assurance
Raising awareness of the staff and students on the programmes, standards and assessment criteria;
Involving staff into the quality assurance activities;
Involving students into quality assurance activities;
Distributing the results of assessment (publication of the reports, ratings and the results of sociological surveys)

University management of quality assurance
Academic Council of the University (Rector’s office, Deans, representatives of faculties and administrative departments, students) – general strategy of educational process, decision-making in terms of new fields of study, curriculum development and quality assurance
Academic studies department – analysis of the educational programmes implementation, their contents; paper work in licensing and accreditation of some new programmes in cooperation with representatives of the faculties; monitoring the compliance with the federal standards; determining the teaching load for faculties and departments.
Quality assurance department – monitoring of the educational activities; internal audit; sociological surveys among students and staff; recommendations on prospective fields of study; labor market analysis, intake and graduation dynamics analysis, etc.

University management of quality assurance
Methodological Board of the University and Methodological commissions of the faculties– analysis of the educational programmes and improvements to the university component of the programmes, optional courses and electives; establishing and promoting interdisciplinary links; introduction of new fields of study.

Departments of the University
Work out, analyze and approve of the curricula (updated every year);
Provide for and monitor the methodological support to the teaching process;
Elaborate and carry out regular tests;
Monitor teaching process;
Approve of the course and graduation papers;
Monitor the teaching load at the department

Self-evaluation report
Introduction
Legislative support
Faculty structure and its management
General framework of the specialist training
Contents of the specialist training
Quality of teaching and quality of learners’ knowledge
Teaching staff
Academic research
International cooperation
Material resources
Social environment, accommodation
Financial support
Lessons of the previous attestation, improvements
Outcomes and recommendations
Conclusion

Self-evaluation

Students’ involvement into quality assurance
Involvement into the Academic Council of the University and Faculties’ Academic Councils;
Sociological surveys among students;
Assessment of residual knowledge;
Students’ self-governance (Students’ Council, Students’ Conference) are eligible to bring about the suggestions on facilitating the educational process.

Major indicators and their values for external expert evaluation
Filled staff vacancies – 90%
Teaching staff with academic grades – 60%
premises – 11 square meter per student
Positive evaluation of some federal supervising services (hygiene and sanitary service, fire inspection, etc.)
Supply of textbooks and methodological materials – 0,5 per student
Requirements for licensing:

External expert evaluation of IKSUR

Applications for admission (2004-2007)

Dynamics in applying for admission 2004-2007

Motivation
(average for the university)

Changes in attitude to the chosen field of study

Satisfied with the components of the educational process (average for all disciplines)

The most urgent problems in the academic process (students’ assessment)

Frequently used informational sources in educational process

«Journalism studies»
Evaluation of the 2-year disciplines

Rating of the teachers

Students who combine studies and part- or full-time job (all faculties)

Career start-up preferred by the students (average for all faculties)

Results of the final examinations
ВУЗ

Results of the students’ theses defence

Faculty of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication

Среднее значение экспертной оценки по университету = 3,61
Graduates’ quality assessment
Средние значения по университету

Employers’ evaluation of the IKSUR graduates
Merits
Determination
Ambitiousness
Leader’s qualities
«They know what they wan»
Responsibility
Efficiency
Fundamental knowledge
Desire to be promoted
IT skills, modern-type education
Creativity
Active social attitude
High professional level
Drawbacks
They want quick money
Lack of practical skills and knowledge
Lack of work ethic
Lack of emotional control
Lack of special knowledge

Comparison of an IKSUR graduate to a sample young specialist
Параметр 1: Уровень конкретных знаний, умений и навыков по специальности (-8)
Параметр 2: Общий уровень профессиональной подготовки (+1)
Параметр 3: Деловые навыки и качества (+2)
Параметр 4: Общая культура (+5)