Kim Waeytens

From Design and Implementation to Impact of Quality Assurance: An Overview of Some Studies into what Impacts Improvement

Attention shifted in recent years from design and implementation to use and usefulness of quality assurance. Scientific studies focus increasingly on quality assurance’s impact on curricula and individual teachers. Which factors influence follow-up activities and what is their relation to improvement of education? One factor that we single out is teachers’ experience of quality assurance and how that influences the climate for quality work in higher education institutions, against the backdrop of the social context in which quality assurance was introduced. The article critically analyses a number of studies on the topic.

Fascinating Bologna: Impact on the nature and approach of academic development

European universities are today facing major and unique changes as a result of the Bologna Declaration. The Bologna Declaration is not a treaty. It has not been ratified by national or regional parliaments. None of the countries that signed the declaration are thus bound by it. Yet the Bologna Declaration is more than a political statement. It formulates a clear goal: the creation of a coherent European Higher Education Area as a means to ensure mobility and employability throughout Europe and to improve the international competition and attractiveness of European higher education throughout the world. And, a deadline is set. By 2010 the European Higher Education Area should be a fact. The Bologna Declaration also encompasses a very concrete program of action with several specific objectives:

An interactive training programme for beginning faculty: issues of implementation

The evaluation of a first step implementation of an interactive training program for beginning faculty is presented. The training program is based on the principles of full recognition of the subjective theory of the faculty and establishing an equal relationship between the faculty and the trainer.To evaluate the actual implementation of the model questionnaires on the implementation of the two principles, participants’ reactions to the training and fulfilment of expectations towards the training were used. The results of the training are assessed with questionnaires on the learning of the participants, their expected use of knowledge and skills, their expected development and a pre and post measurement of instructional beliefs. The results show that the interactive model of faculty training was implemented and seems appropriate for training beginning faculty. The goals of the training were attained, except for directional change in instructional beliefs of the faculty. It is hypothesised that global changes in instructional beliefs can only be measured after a longer period.

A System of Student Feedback: Considerations of Academic Staff Taken into Account.

As a consequence of the suspension of a system of yearly evaluations of individual courses with student questionnaires, the University of Leuven organised a broad consultation of the academic community focussing on what they expect from a system based on student feedback. The study revealed that this community attaches great importance to a clear definition of the goals of student feedback, improvement and accountability, and a logical translation of these goals into a concrete approach. The study also confirmed the need of academic staff for a concrete response to the importance they give to quality improvement and enhancement besides accountability.