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17 février 2013

DAAD-GAC conference - "Quality Assurance and Quality Development in Europe"

logoThe German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Accreditation Council (GAC) are organising an international conference on "Quality Assurance and Quality Development in Europe" at 21 and 22 March this year in Berlin.
Please see the attached invitation, conference programme and registration form: Invitation, Conference programme, Registration form.
Invitation: "Quality Assurance and Quality Development in Europe"

In co-operation with the Foundation for the Accreditation of Study Programmes in Germany (Akkreditierungsrat) the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is organising an international conference on "Quality Assurance and Quality Development in Europe" at 21 & 22 March 2013 in Berlin.
The goal of this international conference is to discuss different methods of internal and external quality assurance and their strengths and weaknesses. Examples of practice from selected European countries and institutions shall illustrate various approaches. Additionally, the impact of qualification frameworks on mutual recognition of study periods and degrees will be looked at. Some attention will be paid to quality assurance issues of European co-operation in higher education. The conference addresses representatives of quality assurance bodies, QA managers of higher education institutions, programme directors (especially of double/joint degree programmes) and interested politicians. Selected representatives from student organisations will also be invited to join the seminar.
Registration is free of charge. Meals during the conference will be provided by the DAAD. Accommodation and travel costs have to be covered by the participants themselves.
For your information please find attached the draft programme.
Conference programme

Quality Assurance and Quality Development in Europe, 21 and 22 March 2013, Berlin.
Thursday, 21 March 2013

13:30 – 14.00 Opening of the Conference. Dr Siegbert Wuttig, Director, National Agency for EU Higher Education Co-operation, Germany; Dr Olaf Bartz, Managing Director, Accreditation Council, Germany.
14:30 – 15:00 Quality Assurance – Different Approaches. Josep Grifoll, Board Member of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and Head of the Quality Assessment Department of AQU Catalunya
15:00 – 15:30 European and National Qualification Frameworks and their Impact on Mutual Recognition. Dr Birger Hendriks, Bologna Follow-up Group, Germany
16:00 – 18:00 Examples of Quality Assurance in Higher Education Co-operations – Parallel Working Groups –
Working Group I: Co-operations with South Eastern Europe, Chair: Prof Volker Gehmlich, Germany, N.N., Hungary, Prof. Jasmina Havranek, ASHE, Croatia
Working Group II: Co-operations with Northern Europe, Chair: Dr Vidmantas Tūtlys, Lithuania, Tove Blytt Holmen, NOKUT, Norway, Aurelija Valeikiene, SKVC, Lithuania
Working Group III: Co-operations with Western Europe, Chair: Dr Norma Ryan, University College Cork, Ireland, Carolyn Campbell, QAA, UK (to be asked), Karena Maguire, QQI, Ireland
Friday, 22 March 2013

09:00 – 09.45 Why Quality Assurance?
09:45 – 10:15 Reports from the Working Groups, Prof Volker Gehmlich, Dr Vidmantas Tūtlys, Dr Norma Ryan
10:15 – 10:45 Perspectives and Limitations of Quality Assurance, Dr Olaf Bartz, Managing Director, Accreditation Council, Germany
11:15 – 12:45 Panel Discussion: Developments, Obstacles and Prospects, Chair: Marina Steinmann, Head of Unit Bologna Process, DAAD. Participants: Josep Grifoll, Board Member of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and Head of the Quality Assessment Department of AQU Catalunya Moritz Maikämper, Bologna Expert and former member of the Accreditation Council, Prof Dr Hans E. Roosendaal, University of Twente, Dr Christoph Grolimund, Director of the Swiss Center of Accreditation, and Quality Assurance in Higher Education (OAQ), Dr Sjur Bergan, Head of Education Department, Directorate of Democratic Citizenship and Participation, Council of Europe, France
12.45 Closing Remarks
Peter Greisler, Head of Subdivision 41 Institutions of Higher Education, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF.
17 février 2013

EUCA Message in a Bottle Contest

17 février 2013

From Massification to Quality Assurance in Ethiopia

Hedda - Higher Education Development AssociationIn this guest entry, Ayenachew Aseffa Woldegiyorgis examines recent change of focus in Ethiopian higher education, where after decades of focusing on expansion, concerns of quality have become high on the agenda. Ayenachew has studied Management and Masters of Public Administration (MPA). For over eight years he has taught at Unity University and Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Currently he is a student of Masters in Research and Innovation in Higher Education (MARIHE) at Danube University (Austria), University of Tampere (Finland), Beijing Normal University (China) and University of Osnabruck (Germany).
The past fifteen years are marked by a massive expansion in the Ethiopian higher education (HE). The number of public universities increased from just two by the end of 1990s to 32 in 2013. Total enrollment has increased from 42,132 in 1996/97 to 319,217 in 2010/11 and it is targeted to reach 467,445 by 2014/15 (MOE, 2005; 2010a). Yet, as much as it is hailed for its success in the massification, the government has been equally criticized for immensely neglecting quality. Recently the government has admitted to this  problem and declared that it has redirected its attention from expansion to quality assurance.
Ethiopia’s quality endeavor is now faced with a complicated set of challenges and requires a well thought out, comprehensive strategy and strong commitment. On one hand, the issue of quality has been long neglected implying that the problem has accrued over the years and the reform effort has to begin from almost zero. On the other hand, the very nature of quality assurance in HE is complex and demands multidimensional and concurrent attention on the various determinants. The overall strategy for quality should focus on (but not be limited to) the following major and interdependent challenges, each one of which can be further analyzed in greater detail. 
Availability and distribution of qualified academics

There is a chronic shortage of qualified teaching personnel in the labor market. As a solution, besides hiring expatriates, the government has recently launched central hiring where by large number of fresh graduates are recruited every year and assigned to different universities. While this seems to be solving the supply problem, it is a huge compromise on quality. Cumulative grade and political commitment are the two most important factors considered in hiring. No rigorous assessment, not even a proper interview, is made to determine the interest and capacity of the candidates to the job. In fact, many new recruits take the teaching job as way of escaping unemployment and/or harnessing opportunities for graduate studies. The recruits are first given weeks of training, rather orientation, on the political ideology and policy directions of the ruling party. Then, the Higher Diploma Program (HDP) is provided to train them with pedagogic skills. Yet HDP is neither provided before the new recruits begin teaching nor it is consistently done.
In terms of composition, the Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency (HERQA) recommends a qualification profile for university academic staff of less than 20% first degree holders, about 50% Masters Degree holders, and about 30% terminal degree (PhD) holders. In practice, studies show that as of 2010 only 8% of the academic staff had PhD and more than half (in some studies 70%) are undergraduate degree holders. Besides, Addis Ababa University alone accounted for about half of the PhDs compared to the other 21 universities which have 95.2% of the undergraduate degree holders (c.f. Areaya, 2010).
Dissatisfied and unmotivated staff

The academic profession is immersed in a lot of problems resulting in low satisfaction and absence of motivation among the professoriate. Low remuneration is top of the list.  A person in the private or nongovernmental sector can earn more of that earned by an academic of the same educational background and years of experience. The ever increasing inflation has made it impossible for academics to live on their salaries. The options considered viable are either to burden themselves with more than one job or to leave the academic career. The working conditions, particularly in the emerging universities, is characterized by poor infrastructure, low (or no) internet connection, lack of teaching aids in the classroom, large class size, inadequacy of laboratories and equipments, poorly equipped and often crowded offices and lack of personal working computers (laptops). In addition to this, the working load of the academics has significantly increased as the growth in the number of students is not matched with that of the teaching staff. The student-to-instructor ratio has increased from 13.7 in 2002/2003 to 28.0 in 2008/2009 signifying that the instructors’ workload had doubled within six years (MOE, 2010b).
These issues, coupled with structural and policy problems along with low participation in institutional matters, fragility of academic freedom, job insecurity, unattractiveness of career path, excessive focus on teaching duties than research and service, add up to the dissatisfaction of the academics. University teaching is among those jobs hit hard by both internal and external brain drain.
‘Quality’ of the quality agency

HERQA was highly focused on auditing and taking corrective measures on private institutions while there is no evidence that the public universities are any better than their private counterparts. As of 2008/09 the number of public universities audited for quality was only 20%.  The agency itself is critically limited in its capacity. Lack of autonomy, shortage of skilled manpower, lack of institutional experience and operational inefficiency are among its major problems. Besides the universities do not have a well established internal quality assurance and self evaluation system.
Institutional Autonomy

Regardless of what the higher education proclamation says, public universities are still under direct and strong influence of the government. They are not autonomous enough to make decisions of their own with regard to financing, staffing, appointment of officeholders, or even setting their own mission and vision. The internal management of the universities is filled with tension in what Ashcroft described as “control versus autonomy, modernization versus ‘government knows best’, democracy versus the need to control dissident voices” resulting in a dilemma for managers having to address both overt and covert agendas. The lack of mutual trust between the government and university officials has rendered the latter unable to decide without the fear of their decision being overruled. The university board, the highest decision making body according to the 2009 proclamation, is directly and indirectly appointed by the government. The involvement of stakeholders other than the government is largely limited.
In Conclusion

The transition from massification to quality assurance needs a comprehensive strategy, which, both in policy and practice, sufficiently addresses all the relevant issues, and sufficiently engages all stakeholders. While the government remains having an irreplaceable role, it has to be noted that quality assurance, unlike massification, cannot be achieved by the single (no matter how) strong arm of the government.

17 février 2013

Call for papers: European Integration and Western Balkans

Hedda - Higher Education Development AssociationBy Marielk. The conference “European Integration in Higher Education and Research on the Western Balkans” takes place on 13 May 2013, at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
The focus of the conference is on changes in the higher education systems and institutions in the region of Western Balkans, in particular the ones that can be linked to European initiatives in the area of higher education. Priority is given to papers that focus on governance, policy, European integration, and the relationship between higher education and regional development.
The conference is part of a 3-year project, funded by the Norwegian Research Council through its NORGLOBAL programme. The project seeks primarily to strengthen the basis for evidence based policy making in the area of higher education and research, by strengthening capacities for national and regional studies on higher education and research. Project partners countries include Norway (Department of Educational Research and Intermedia as well as the Centre for European Studies – ARENA of the University of Oslo, and the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education – NIFU) and the region (University of Zagreb in Croatia, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Sciences in Serbia and Centre for Education Policy in Serbia).
Deadline for applications 1st of March 2013

More information about the application procedure, conference theme and practicalities can be downloaded here.
17 février 2013

Free learning technology events to enhance the student experience

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/css/hea2/images/hea2-header-bg-swirl.png

The HEA is working in close partnership with four other organisations to support universities and colleges facing the challenges of learning technologies.
Changing the Learning Landscape (CLL) aims to bring about change in approaches to technology in learning and teaching within institutions. The project has already involved consultancy packages for institutional teams and strategy programmes for learning and teaching leaders, which are intended to help embed such technologies into academic practice.
The HEA is leading the professional development programme strand of the project, offering 12 free workshops for academics and education developers. The events will be held in a variety of locations and focus on different aspects of learning technologies. Topics will be discipline related and include social media, mobile learning and open practice.
The workshops are designed to appeal to staff who have had little or no experience of these learning technologies. The events will run between March and May 2013. For more information please visit the CLL pages of the HEA website.
CLL is the first collaborative project between these partners - Jisc, the National Union of Students (NUS), the Association for Learning Technology (ALT), the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education and the HEA. It has been funded by HEFCE. The project has also drawn on other agencies including SEDA and HEDG.

17 février 2013

Online language learning course now available in 12 languages

QuizFree online programme for the catering industry developed through a Key Activity 2 Languages-project
A unique language learning tool, developed by lecturers from 9 institutions in 8 EU countries is now available in Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Slovenian and Spanish.
The original www.eurocatering.org was launched in 2008. Since then, with more than 10,000 learners, the partners have worked on updating the website and launched version 2.0 on 01 February 2013. Not only do we now provide 12 languages, but the language learning is no longer dependent on the mother tongue and you can learn any of the 12 languages from any of the 12 available languages. More pictures have been added, so that nearly all exercises are colourfully illustrated. The system has been adapted to any browser or computing system.
The second part of the course (The Tray) has been upgraded with an audio and illustrated dictionary, updated socio-cultural information about work in the partner countries, supplementary material for learners and/or teachers/trainers. In the near future, more exercises will be added as well as assessment tools (learning outcomes, testing materials, RLD). The next step in our project development is to provide learners with a new sector: Reception, in 11 languages (available October 2013).
Do you work in the hotel industry? Or do you want to have a go at learning Kitchen Italian, Restaurant Finnish or any one of the 12 languages EuroCatering offers? This is the website for you!
Simply sign up at www.eurocatering.org. It’s free and freely accessible.
www.eurocatering.org
is a European Commission funded project which was awarded the European Language Label of the Labels by the EU Commission in 2012.
For more information, contact one of the partners via www.eurocatering.org or the project coordinator christian.goethals@helha.be.

17 février 2013

New study underlines benefits of eTwinning

European Commission logoThe European Commission has just published an independent study on the impact of the EU's eTwinning scheme. The study found that teachers who had participated in eTwinning improved their skills, their relations with pupils and developed their professional networks. Pupils felt more empowered and motivated and were better at team working. The study found eTwinning to be an easy and cost-effective way for schools to engage in international cooperation.
eTwinning uses information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance cooperation between schools. 190,000 teachers at 100,000 schools have so far signed up through the European eTwinning portal which offers both tools and secure internet spaces for joint school projects, exchanges and training activities.
Impact on teachers
  • The majority of teachers in the survey said they their expectations of eTwinning were largely fulfilled. Improvements in knowledge and skills, particularly, teaching skills, were noted. However, few teachers had received official recognition or a change in status following their eTwinning experience.
  • Teachers identified five main benefits of eTwinning: (1) making new friends and networking across Europe (64%); (2) new or improved ICT skills (60%); (3) a positive impact on pupils’ skills or motivation to learn (55%); (4) a sense of involvement in an international teaching community (55%); (5) improved foreign language skills (54%).
  • The impact was greater among teachers who were actively involved in projects. Involvement in a collaborative project appears to stimulate both personal and professional development and encourages teachers to widen their involvement in professional exchange and networking.

Impact on pupils

  • Teachers' expectations of change and improvement in their pupils’ abilities, knowledge and attitudes were generally fulfilled. Many teachers noticed better and less formal communication and interaction with pupils.
  • Pupils were enthusiastic about collaboration and team working as well as learning about other cultures.
  • eTwinning also made pupils feel empowered or more independent, especially those over the age of twelve.

Impact on schools

  • In many cases eTwinning had led to other projects and a more international outlook within the school.
  • If eTwinning is to have an impact on the whole school, the head teacher needs to be closely involved, and several classes - or the entire school have to be involved in the activities.
  • Curricular integration of the project is common. Typically eTwinning projects might combine elements of language learning and literacy, ICT, sciences and mathematics and social sciences.

Background
The impact study gathered evidence over 21 months through a literature review, data and document review, 24 school case studies in 13 countries, and a survey in 25 languages of around 6 000 teachers registered for eTwinning.
eTwinning is financed through the Lifelong Learning Programme and is part of the Comenius programme for school education. The European Commission plans to reinforce and expand eTwinning from 2014 as part of the proposed Erasmus for All programme.
More information:
Final report; Final report annex; eTwinning portal.

17 février 2013

Matriculación gratuita Cursos Online Masivos en Abierto (MOOC's)

HomeMiríada X, plataforma de Cursos Online Masivos en Abierto (MOOC’s), ofrece formación gratuita a través de 58 MOOC’s ofrecidos por 18 universidades iberoamericanas.
Los usuarios de Miríada X pueden matricularse gratuitamente en todos aquellos cursos que sean de su interés. Pueden cursar estos programas formativos sean o no alumnos de la universidad que los imparte.
Miríada X
 ofrece a los equipos docentes de las 1.232 universidades iberoamericanas socias de la red Universia una plataforma para publicar e impartir MOOC’s, a los que se puede acceder desde cualquier parte del mundo de manera gratuita.
La información sobre los 58 MOOC’s se puede consultar en este listado de cursos.
17 février 2013

Internship Opportunity - March 2013

ENQA is looking for a trainee starting in March 2013 for a minimum of 3 months with a specific focus on communication/editing and project management.
The Trainee’s responsibilities will be specifically to:
• contribute to the ENQA newsletter;
• provide support in the management of projects;
• edit publications, reports and other documents;
• assist in updating the ENQA database and website;
• provide support in the organisation of ENQA events.
This position will provide the intern the opportunity to gain professional experience in an international environment. Please find the internship announcement here.

17 février 2013

Policy Guide - Student numbers and high grades

HEFCE logoOverview
When universities and colleges recruit new students, they cannot simply take as many as they might like. This is because the Government needs to control the level of publicly-funded student loans and grants for fees and maintenance.

Based on guidance from Government we set each institution a limit – or ‘student number control’ – on the number of students they may recruit. This limit is only designed to control the number of students entering university or college. It is not designed to influence decisions about the suitability of candidates. Universities and colleges are autonomous organisations and these decisions are entirely up to them. They have always admitted students on the basis of academic excellence and potential, and they should continue to do so.
The ‘high-grades’ policy

Not all students are included in the student number control. The Government is keen to encourage popular and successful universities and colleges to expand, and to improve student choice. So it has decided to allow universities and colleges to recruit as many students with high grades at A-level and certain equivalent qualifications (broadly defined each year by government policy) as they wish, and are able to, outside of their student number control. We call this the ‘high-grades’ policy.
We are responsible for putting the high-grades policy into practice and for identifying the high-grade qualifications from which institutions may recruit applicants without limit. To do this, we have developed a list of entry qualifications and grades which are exempt from the student number control – this is known as the ‘exemptions list’.   
The ‘exemptions list’

This ‘exemptions list’ does not include all high-grade qualifications. It does not, for example, include combinations of different qualifications, or qualifications from all other EU states. This is because we need to be able to estimate the numbers of students in the ‘uncontrolled’ population as accurately as possible, so that the Government can manage its budget.
If we were to include all EU qualifications, and combinations of qualifications - or admissions using contextual factors - it would be much more difficult to estimate this accurately.
How does this affect applications?

A number of schools and other organisations have expressed concerns that the high-grades policy may disadvantage some applicants. Where a student holds a combination of qualifications with high grades (such as a BTEC or the Cambridge Pre-U in combination with A-levels) this means they will form part of an institution’s controlled entry number. Some are concerned that institutions are less likely to take these students because they do not want to risk exceeding their student number control limit.
We have taken a number of steps to ensure that this should not happen:
Sufficient numbers

We believe that we are providing all universities and colleges with sufficient numbers in their student number control to enable them to admit high-achieving students with qualifications which are not on the exemptions list, and students with combinations of qualifications. This should also provide universities and colleges with the flexibility to make ‘contextual offers’ to students that are under-represented in higher education, if they so wish. (These are offers that take into account the context, and social and economic circumstances in which the applicant is applying for higher education.)
Appeals
We will work closely with universities and colleges to ensure that their student number control is set at a sufficient level. Any university or college which says it needs more places to continue to offer fair access to all applicants can appeal against its student number control. We will listen carefully to their concerns if we feel that there is any risk that students are not being treated fairly.
Highly selective institutions

We are particularly concerned to ensure that highly selective institutions (those with over 80 per cent of their intake falling within the ABB+ population) also have a student number control limit sufficient to allow them to continue to provide fair access to high-achieving students that do not meet our definition of ABB+ or equivalent. So we have allocated additional student places to the most selective universities which otherwise would have been left with a very small student number limit. Universities may still experience excess demand for places, and as in past years, not all applicants will be successful.
More flexibility

For the 2013-14 academic year, universities and colleges will also have more flexibility around their student number control allocation. They will have limited scope to exceed their allocation by up to 3 per cent without incurring a reduction for over-recruitment.
We have also explained to universities and colleges that the list of exemptions has been developed for the practical and limited purpose of implementing the Government’s student number control policy. It does not:
- provide an assessment of students’ academic achievements
- attempt to judge the educational value or equivalence of other qualifications or of combinations of qualifications
- serve as a tool to help universities and colleges make judgements about which students are suitable to admit or to whom to offer financial support.
For students and schools/colleges

This page is for students who are planning to apply to a university or college in 2013-14, and for their parents, teachers and careers advisers. It explains what the ‘high-grades’ policy is, and its implications for higher education applications. Universities and colleges are autonomous organisations and judge all applications on their academic merit and potential. They should offer fair access to all applicants...
For HE institutions

This page sets out changes to the ‘high-grades’ policy for 2013-14. It reminds higher education institutions of the purpose of the exemptions list, and the importance of ensuring that their admissions and other staff understand this purpose – in particular, so that they can communicate clearly and accurately with prospective students and schools/colleges, and make appropriate decisions...
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