21 octobre 2011

Mapping the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance: Draft report now open for public consultation. The E4 Group of higher education stakeholders (EUA, ENQA, ESU and EURASHE), has been carrying out a project to map the application and implementation of the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESGs).
As authors of the ESG, published in 2005 in the framework of the Bologna Process, the E4’s project aims to identify whether these guidelines still “meet the current challenges of higher education”, and therefore if they need updating or revising. After a period of information gathering and consultation with members of the E4 associations, the project steering group has now published a draft report for public consultation.
The report outlines in detail the background to the EC-supported MAP-ESG project and how each of the four associations consulted with their members and carried out research. EUA’s consultation included a survey carried out with its 34 national rectors’ conferences, and a series of workshops enabling universities to benchmark their QA processes against the ESGs, and to share their experiences of good practice as well as obstacles encountered in implementing these processes. Following a call for interest, 49 delegates from 23 European countries participated in the workshops, thus contributing to a thorough discussion on how the ESGs have been implemented and applied in institutional contexts. The outcomes of this work and the report will also be discussed by EUA Council at its meeting on Friday 21 October.
The report tackles a variety of issues relating to the ESGs (at the national, institutional and QA agency level), including their purpose and scope, clarity and usability, and impact and implementation.
It underlines that while the ESGs have proved to be a “major achievement of the Bologna Process”, and are “well regarded by all stakeholders” and have “facilitated a shared understanding of QA”, there are a number of areas for improvement. The draft report finishes with a tentative recommendation on further action that would be presented to the Ministers of the EHEA countries in spring 2012. The full draft report is now available on the ENQA website and will be open for public consultation until 11 November 2011. The findings of this work will then be presented at a conference in Denmark with the Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG) in January 2012 and the final report and recommendation will be presented at the next meeting of Higher Education Ministers in Bucharest in April 2012.