Nora Skaburskien ė Director Centre for Quality Assessment in HE (SKVC)

1. www.skvc.lt IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INDEPENDENT QA SYSTEM IN HE AND IT’S DEVELOPMENT: A CASE OF LITHUANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION Nora Skaburskienė Director Centre forQualityAssessmentin HE (SKVC)

2. Higher Education in Lithuania 44 Higher Education Institutions ~ 1800 I&II cycle study programmes 2,9 mln. population ~131 000 students

3. There are 44 HEIs in Lithuania:22 Universities22 Colleges of higher education Binary system of HE college of higher education sector university sector

4. State vs. private HE 44 HEIs in Lithuania: 26 state 18 non-state non-state sector state sector

5. LTQF 8 EQF 8 LTQF 7 EQF 7 LTQF 6 EQF 6 NON-DEGREE STUDIES

6. Activities of SKVC • to contribute to creation of favorable conditions for free movement of persons • assessment of foreign qualifications • provision of info and consultations • to encourage quality of activities of HEI • review and accreditation of HEI (institutional review) • evaluation and accreditation of HE study programs (new and in operation) • assessment of (new) establishing HEI

7. MISSION To create favourable conditions for the improvementof higher education quality in Lithuania and the free movement of persons in the world with the aim of enhancing competitiveness of Lithuanian higher education and clarity of itsqualifications VISION SKVC is an influential generator, implementer and disseminator of ideas on improvement of quality and enhancement of internationalisation in higher education - in both Lithuania and the rest of Europe

8. Kas yra kokybė? Whatisquality? We at SKVC understandqualityfirstofallasfitness for purpose. Qualityismultidimensionalphenomenon, whereagreementofallstakeholders(academics, administrators, students, labormarketrepresentatives) regardingwhatisquality it isofutmostimportance.

9. External Quality Assurance At least once every 6 years: • Institutional Review and accreditation • Study programme evaluation and accreditation

10. Involvement of international experts Study programme evaluation (from 1998): • International experts - from 2002 Institutional review (from 2011): • International experts - from the beginning

11. Number of evaluations by international/national experts’ groups

12. Countries of experts(programme evaluation 2016)

13. Countries of experts(Institutional review 2011-2016)

14. Internationalrelations • INQAAHE (International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education) – full member from 1997 • ENIC/NARIC (European Network of National Information Centres / Network of National Academic Recognition Information Centres) – full member from 1999 • CEENQA (The Network of Central and Eastern European Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education) – co-founder and full member from 2000 • ENQA (associate member from 2000, full member since 14 Sept 2012) • Listed on EQARastrustworthy QA agencyfrom2012

15. Quality assurance system: • External QA (SKVC) - Internal QA (HEIs)

16. Building External QA system • Agreement of all stakeholders on: • Aim and objectives of the system • Key players • Concept of quality

17. Building External QA system Key player in implementation of EQA – the Agency Key documents for EQA – ESG and national legal acts

18. ESG Part 2: Standards for external quality assurance 2.1 Consideration of internal quality assurance 2.2 Designing methodologies fit for purpose 2.3 Implementing processes 2.4 Peer-review 2.5 Criteria for outcomes 2.6 Reporting 2.7 Complaints and appeals

19. 2.1 Consideration of internal quality assurance • Quality assurance in HE is based on the institutions’ responsibility for the quality of their programmes and other provision • It is important that external quality assurance recognises and supports institutional responsibility for quality assurance.

20. 11th ENQA TRAINING OF AGENCY REVIEWERS 2.2 Designing methodologies fit for purpose In order to ensure effectiveness and objectivity it is vital for EQA to have clear aims agreed by stakeholders

21. 2.3 Implementing processes External quality assurance processes should be reliable, useful, pre-defined, implemented consistently and published. They include: • a self-assessment or equivalent; • an external assessment normally including a site visit; • a report resulting from the external assessment; • a consistent follow-up.

22. 2.4 Peer-review experts In order to ensure the value and consistency of the work of the experts, they: • are carefully selected; • have appropriate skills and are competent to perform their task; • are supported by appropriate training and/or briefing. The agency ensures the independence of the experts by implementing a mechanism of no-conflict-of-interest. Desirable - the involvement of international experts in external quality assurance

23. 2.5 Criteria for outcomes Any outcomes or judgements made as the result of EQA should be based on explicit and published criteria that are applied consistently, irrespective of whether the process leads to a formal decision

24. 2.6 Reporting • Full reports by the experts should be published • Clear and accessible to the academic community, external partners and other interested individuals • If the agency takes any formal decision based on the reports, the decision should be published together with the report

25. 11th ENQA TRAINING OF AGENCY REVIEWERS 2.6 Reporting Guidelines:The report by the experts is the basis for the institution’s follow-up action of the external evaluation and it provides information to society regarding the activities of an institution. In order for the report to be used as the basis for action to be taken, it needs to be clear and concise in its structure and language and to cover: • context description (to help locate the HEI in its specific context); • description of the individual procedure, including experts involved; • evidence, analysis and findings; • conclusions; • features of good practice, demonstrated by the institution; • recommendations for follow-up action. The preparation of a summary report may be useful. The factual accuracy of a report is improved if the institution is given the opportunity to point out errors of fact before the report is finalised.

26. 2.7 Complaints and appeals Complaints and appeals processes should be clearly defined as part of the design of EQA processes and communicated to the institutions

27. ESG Part 3: Standards and guidelines for QAAs 3.1 Activities, policy and processes for quality assurance 3.2 Official status 3.3 Independence 3.4 Thematic analysis 3.5 Resources 3.6 Internal quality assurance and professional conduct 3.7 Cyclical external review of agencies

28. 3.1 Activities, policy and processes for quality assurance • Agencies should undertake EQA activities as defined in Part 2 of the ESG on a regular basis • They should have clear and explicit goals and objectives that are part of their publicly available mission statement • These should translate into the daily work of the agency • Agencies should ensure the involvement of stakeholders in their governance and work.

29. 3.2 Official status Agencies should have an established legal basis and should be formally recognised as quality assurance agencies by competent public authorities

30. 3.3 Independence Agencies should be independent and act autonomously.: • Organisationalindependence, demonstrated by official documentation (e.g. instruments of government, legislative acts or statutes of the organisation) • Operational independence: the definition and operation of the agency’s procedures and methods as well as the nomination and appointment of external experts are undertaken independently from third parties such as HEIs, governments and other stakeholders • Independence of formal outcomes: anyone contributing to EQA activities of an agency (e.g. as expert) is informed that while they may be nominated by a third party, they are acting in a personal capacity and not representing their constituent organisations when working for the agency. Independence is important to ensure that any procedures and decisions are solely based on expertise

31. 3.4 Thematic analysis Agencies should regularly publish reports that describe and analyse the general findings of their external quality assurance activities

32. 3.5 Resources Agencies should have adequate and appropriate resources, both human and financial, to carry out their work

33. 3.6 Internal quality assurance and professional conduct • Agencies should have in place processes for internal quality assurance • Agencies need to be accountable to their stakeholders • The review and improvement of their activities are on-going so as to ensure that their services to institutions and society are optimal

34. 3.7 Cyclical external review of agencies Agencies should undergo an external review at least once every five years in order to demonstrate their compliance with the ESG

35. Challenges for Agencies with ESG 2015 • Mandatory student involvement • Mandatory publication of full reports • International participation in panels and agency • Thematicanalysis • Competition at home (for some) • Markets abroad

36. What does ESG 2015 mean for Higher Education Institutions? Expansion of Part 1 – Standards and Guidelines for Internal Quality Assurance from 7 to 10 Standards • Policy for quality assurance • Design and approval of Programmes • Student-centred learning, teaching and assessment • Student admission, progression, recognition and certification • Teaching staff • Learning resources and student support • Information management • Public information • On-going monitoring and periodic review of programmes • Cyclical external quality assurance

37. How HEIs can address internal quality assurance in line with ESG 2015 Helpful guide on how universities can address ESG 2015 (part 1) Published (Sep 2105) by www.eua.be

38. You can create synergy when discussing internal quality systems. • It is impossible to copy quality as it dependson culture and academic ethics of HEI. • Chosen quality system should be aappropriatefor achieving specific aims at a particular institution.

40. Implementation of IQA HEIs confront a number of challenges in IQA design: • choosing an appropriate focus • integrating IQA tools into a cost-effective and coherent system • considering graduate employability • finding an appropriate balance between centralized and decentralized structures

41. Challenges (for some) with ESG 2015 • 1.2 – Design and approval of programmes • Programmes are designed by involving students and other stakeholders in the work • 1.3 - Student-centred learning, teaching and assessment The implementation of student-centred learning and teaching: • Respects and attends to the diversity of students and their needs, enabling flexible learning paths • Flexibly uses a variety of pedagogical methods • Encourages a sense of autonomy in the learner

42. Success factors • Leadership support • Stakeholder involvement • IQA integrated with strategic planning • Effective management information system

43. Recommendations from the experts on IQA • Part of universities does not have an integrated quality assurance system that would cover allprocesses within the institutions and all available quality assurance measures • The quality management strategy does not outline specific goals and formal evaluationindicators to verify the efficiency of quality assurance • Quality assurance processes do not involve students and social partners – they do not get anyfeedback on their contribution to quality improvement

44. Recommendations from the experts on IQA • When drafting quality assurance systems, insufficient attention is given to ESG • A process of feedback from students is not standardised or is not analysed • The balance between quality control and quality enhancement is insufficient • Absence of a quality culture within an organisation. Quality assurance procedures and all relevant data should be systemised and processed, whilethe results should be presented to staff, students and social partners for information purposes in a user-friendly format

45. The internal quality assurance systems of HEIs are Self-regulated responsibilities of the higher education institutions, aimed at Continuous improve-ment of quality and achieving academic excellence. 

46. skvc@skvc.lt www.skvc.lt