Quality
Quality
Management
Management
vs
vs
Quality
Quality
Control:
Control:
Last
Last
Developments
Developments
In
In
Estonian
Estonian
Higher
Higher
Education
Education
EUA Munich 2006
Quality control and/or quality management
Main tools for quality control: a set of external
and internal rules, requirements, standards
Main tools for quality management: strategic
planning, feedback, self evaluation, quality
culture
Developmental stages of quality management
Developmental stages of quality management
in higher education
in higher education
(EFQM)
(EFQM)
Activity-oriented
Process-oriented
System-oriented
Chain-oriented
Quality assurance system in Estonian higher
Quality assurance system in Estonian higher
education 2006
education 2006
3 levels of quality assurance in Estonia
External: principles and rules, determined and managed by a regulatory authority from outside (state)
Internal: principles and rules, determined and managed by the institution (HEI)
Inter-institutional: common principles and rules, agreed by certain institutions and managed by an
Developments in Estonian
Developments in Estonian
h
h
igher
igher
e
e
ducation
ducation
1991
1991
-
-
2006
2006
(1)
(1)
1991, after regaining the independence, there were
6 public universities in Estonia and 2 small private
universities.
2001/2002 there were 49 higher education
institutions in Estonia (population 1,4 million)
In 2005 number of higher education diminished to
39
1995 the University Act and in 1996 Standard of
Higher Education were enacted.
Developments in Estonian
Developments in Estonian
h
h
igher
igher
e
e
ducation
ducation
1991
1991
-
-
2006
2006
(2)
(2)
1997 the Estonian Higher Education Accreditation Centre was established and the Higher Education Quality Assessment Council was appointed.
In 1997 first round of curricula accreditation started. 1997-2005, altogether 721 study programmes were accredited, to 3,5% didn’t met the requirements and were granted non-accredidation
During 1994-2005 number of students has increased 2,7 times from 25489 in 1994 to 68287 in 2005.
External quality assurance in Estonian higher
External quality assurance in Estonian higher
education
education
(1)
(1)
External quality regulations in Estonia:
• Universities Act (1995)
• Standard of Higher Education (1996)
• Estonian Government’s regulation about
institutional and curricula accreditation (2003) • Strategy of Higher Education (2006)
Estonian Higher Education Accreditation Centre and
Higher Education Quality Assessment Council
are in the domain of the Ministry of Education and Research.
External quality assurance in Estonian higher
External quality assurance in Estonian higher
education
education
(2)
(2)
Problems:
Standards are highly formalized (50% of teaching staff with at least 51% workload in the HEI)
Curricula accreditation is defined as a developing action, realized as a decision-making process about the conformity to the highly formalized standards The Estonian HEQA Council doesn’t meet the standard of ENQA (not to be influenced by third parties like other universities, ministries and other stakeholders)
Inter
Inter
-
-
institutional
institutional
quality
quality
assurance in Estonia
assurance in Estonia
2003
The
Quality Agreement
between Estonian
public universities on curricula, academic
position and academic degrees was signed by
the rectors.
The
working group
was called together
to
define quality indicators and elaborate
The
The
Quality
Quality
Agreement of public universities
Agreement of public universities
(1)
(1)
“Desirous of strengthening the competitiveness of
Estonian education in Europe and the world,
considering high quality university education as the main precondition for the development of Estonia, and supporting the development on an integrated university area in Estonia, … (the parties) consider joint operation in assuring the quality of university education very important, including the
The
The
Quality
Quality
Agreement of public universities
Agreement of public universities
(2)
(2)
Aims:
Bring more transparency into the system of academic degrees
Agree rules and procedures in quality assurance Make academic positions comparable
Create more trust to each other’s achievements
Draw a distinction between universities and “non-universities
Since 2005 all public universities complete annual
quality report which is based on Quality
Internal
Internal
Quality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance
(1)
(1)
• Under the guidance of the Rectors' Conference, representatives of public universities created a
manual called Unified Quality Management System
for Estonian Public Universities which has to serve
as a base for internal quality management in universities.
• Further cooperation in the field of quality continues by the project funded by the European Social Fund called Increasing the competition capacity of
university graduates through the development of the quality of study activities.
Internal
Internal
Quality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance
(2)
(2)
• Under the guidance of the Rectors' Conference, representatives of public universities created a
manual called Unified Quality Management System
for Estonian Public Universities which has to serve
as a base for internal quality management in universities.
• Further cooperation in the field of quality continues by the project funded by the European Social Fund called Increasing the competition capacity of
university graduates through the development of the quality of study activities.
Internal
Internal
Quality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance
(3)
(3)
• Institutional self-regulations of Tallinn University: The Regulation of Studies, Curricula Statue,
Regulation of Doctoral studies and theses, etc.
• Main requirements for quality are stated in quality manual, which has at the moment the status of a proposal and should be accepted by the university board (Senate) in autumn semester 2006.
Internal Quality Assurance (4)
Internal Quality Assurance (4)
• During the process of internal discussions, the quality manual has lost a lot of his normative approach.
• More emphasis on the lowest level in EFQM – activity-oriented level, based on the individual responsibility for quality.
• Continuous improvement and quality culture as key words.
