Transcript presentation - Yerevan 2015

Internationalisation in Quality Assurance:
Challenges and Priorities for the Future
Dr. Padraig Walsh
President, European Association for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ENQA)
Chief Executive, Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI)
Bologna Policy Forum, Yerevan, Armenia, 15 May 2015
ENQA Mission
As the largest association of quality assurance agencies committed to agreed
European standards, ENQA drives the development of quality assurance by:
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representing agencies internationally
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supporting them nationally
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providing them with comprehensive services and networking opportunities
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promoting the enhancement of quality
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promoting the development of a quality culture in higher education.
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Background to ENQA
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48 members from 25 (of 47) EHEA member countries
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all members of ENQA have undergone an external review against the
European Standards and Guidelines (2005)
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ENQA – member agencies
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Background to ENQA - affiliates
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45 affiliates from a further 16 EHEA member countries so ENQA is now
representative of 41 of the 47 members of the EHEA
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Affiliates in the USA, South America, East Asia and the Middle East
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ENQA - affiliates
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ENQA Report to Ministerial Conference
QA in the EHEA - Priorities for the future
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Internationalisation of Quality
Assurance and the Revised ESG
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Benefits and Risks of Cross Border
Quality Assurance Services
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Transparency and Availability of
Quality Assurance Reports
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Independence of Quality
Assurance Agencies
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Quality Assurance of Cross-border
Higher Education - QACHE
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Erasmus Mundus funded project (2013-15) – ENQA as lead partner
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Looking at the different ways in which European QA agencies and higher
education institutions address the accreditation and quality assurance of
the programmes delivered outside of their home countries
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Quality Assurance of Cross-border
Higher Education - QACHE
The partnership involves quality assurance agencies from:
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four significant European provider countries, the main provider country outside
Europe (Australia) and the two main host regions of European cross-border
education (Gulf and Asia-Pacific regions):
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Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), UK
High Council for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (HCERES), France
National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA), Spain
German Accreditation Council (GAC), Germany
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), Australia
Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ANQAHE)
Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN)
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4th ENQA Quality Procedures
Project (QPP) 2014
• Fourth edition of the Survey “Quality Procedures in European
Higher Education”, entitled: “Cooperation and competition in the
provision of quality assurance services”
• The survey focussed on the issue of internationalisation of external
quality assurance in higher education
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4th ENQA Quality Procedures
Project (QPP) 2014
Findings indicate that most agencies agree that
European-level collaboration in quality assurance is a
much more relevant internationalisation tool than
conducting quality assurance activities outside their
country’s borders
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4th ENQA Quality Procedures
Project (QPP) 2014
Findings indicate that –
• Despite the commitment of ministers in 2012 to grant
agencies listed on the European Quality Assurance Register
(EQAR) the freedom to perform their QA activities across the
EHEA – very few agencies have done so on a regular basis
• While registration on EQAR remains a top priority for
governments and QA agencies within Europe, performing
cross-order QA activities is not
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Internationalisation of Quality
Assurance
A complex phenomenon – should not be reduced to the import and export of
QA services between countries in the EHEA
For QA agencies, internationalisation begins at home and may include:
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Use of international experts in national QA procedures
Use of international experts in governance bodies of national QA agencies
The application of international QA standards
Exchange of good practice
Networking and collaboration among QA agencies
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Internationalisation of Quality
Assurance
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The most powerful way to internationalise QA in the EHEA since 2005 has
been the implementation of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality
Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG)
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With their revision completed between 2012 and 2015, the adoption of all
national systems (particularly in countries which have not yet fully
developed QA systems) to the revised ESG will be an important priority
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Internationalisation of Quality
Assurance
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Following the initial adoption of the ESG by the ministers in 2005, the
majority of reviews of QA agencies between 2006 and 2011 were
nationally organised, although ENQA was contracted to perform a small
number of these reviews
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Since 2012, ENQA has been the main contractor of external reviews of
European QA agencies, having co-ordinated and carried out almost all of
the reviews used for determining both ENQA membership and EQAR
listing
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In all cases, the evaluators come from countries outside the agency’s
home country. This is, we believe, one of the most important contributions
to the internationalisation of quality assurance and to its anchorage in the
ESG.
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Cross-border Quality Assurance
of Higher Education
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While ‘internationalisation at home’ has clear positive consequences for the
overall level of quality of the HE sector, the long-term impact of importing
and exporting QA services across borders is not clear
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While competition among agencies for voluntary QA processes seems to be
considered an added value by all parties involved, driving agencies to
compete in compulsory QA processes could have serious pitfalls in the
absence of a market regulator
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Quality Assurance of Higher
Education
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The 2005 and 2015 versions of the ESG both recognise the diversity of
higher education
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Even though all ENQA members operate according to the ESG, the services
they provide can be substantially different in nature (audit, assessment,
accreditation, etc.) and serve different objectives
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These often reflect specific national agendas and (frankly) the level of
maturity of both the national higher education system and its quality
assurance
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Diversity of ENQA members
ENQA members include:
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Monopoly national evaluation agencies
Pan-European evaluation agencies
Pan-European discipline-specific agencies
Monopoly national comprehensive accreditation agencies
Monopoly national discipline-specific agencies
Monopoly regional agencies (Spain)
National/international comprehensive agencies competing in a regulated
market (Germany)
National/international discipline-specific agencies competing in a regulated
market (Germany)
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Continental HE systems comparisons
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United States
– 50 states
– State with highest GDP per capita = $60K
– State with lowest GDP per capita = $29K
– 6 Regional Accrediting agencies – no competition
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EHEA
– 47 member countries
– Country (of >1m) with highest GDP per capita = $80K
– Country with lowest GDP per capita = $1.5K
– EHEA includes11 countries with GDP per capita > $40K
– and 8 with GDP per capita < $10K
– 22 countries without an ENQA/EQAR recognised agency
– European Register (EQAR) – some competition
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Cross-border Quality Assurance of
Higher Education
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The application of a pure market logic – to permit HEIs to freely choose any QA
operator – regardless of the specificities of the particular procedure – does not
seem to be the most appropriate way to preserve standards
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Offering opportunities for HEIs to choose an agency that best fits their needs and
interests is laudable, and the recognition of QA decisions by agencies operating
inline with ESG is a necessary condition for mobility
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National governments must remain vigilant to the development of an unregulated
cross-border quality assurance services market
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Guidelines of good practice for cross-border quality assurance activities should
be developed and used by all agencies to ensure that the internationalisation of
quality assurance will have the positive effects it is expected to have and to
minimise the associated risks
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Thank you