Role of stakeholders in the internal and external QA Bern, 5 October 2007 Emmi Helle Secretary General ENQA

1. Role of stakeholders in the internal and external QABern, 5 October 2007 Emmi HelleSecretary GeneralENQA

2. ENQA network in 2000; association in 2004 umbrella NGO for European QA agencies headquarters moving from HKI to BXL in 08 36 Full members, 10 Candidate members new categories of co-operation with ENQA: associates and affiliates structure: Board, General Assembly, Secretariat external reviews of ENQA member agencies by 2010 Co-operation with the E4 (ESU,EUA,EURASHE)

3. Definition of a stakeholder? core definition: a stakeholder is a person (or group) that has an interest in the activities of an institution or organisation (INQAAHE Glossary) explanatory context: in the context of higher education quality, stakeholders are those groups that have inter alia an interest in the quality of provision and standard of outcomes. These include government, employers, students, academic and administrative staff, institutional managers, prospective students and their parents, taxpayers (INQAAHE Glossary) analytical review: students, society, and government participating in or benefiting from the provision of education (Campbell and Rozsnyai 2002, p. 133) [�] specific groups of external actors that have a direct or indirect interest in higher education and cannot always be covered by the consumer-provider analogy. New stakeholders have penetrated a traditional monopolistic relationship between the state and public higher education institutions with two main characteristics. Firstly, the role of the external actors has become more important in last few decades. Secondly, the influence of these external actors has also grown with respect to internal affairs of individual higher education institutions (Maassen, 2000)

4. Role of stakeholders in the internal QA European Standards and Guidelines (ESG), Part 1: the HEIs should have a publicly available quality policy statement, which is expected to explain how the students are involved in the internal quality assurance other stakeholders not specified in ESG Part 1

5. Role of stakeholders in the internal QA (2) EUA Quality Culture Project (report 2006) students� participation in the decision making bodies of the HEIs is normally low HEIs feel the need for more consultation with the external stakeholders (employers, politicians) challenge: external stakeholders might have short-term views which might not be useful for the long-term interests of the HEIs; consistent consultation necessary in the areas like industry and applied research importance of alumni involvement (redesign of study programmes and services, industry partnerships)

6. Role of stakeholders in the internal QA (3) BusinessEurope (BP position papers 2004 and 2007): the professional world should be integrated in higher education to the largest possible extent the representatives of the professional practise should be involved in the conceptualisation of the study programmes all stakeholders (including representatives from the professional world) should be involved in the quality assurance system of a HEI employability of graduates should become the main criterion of quality for future degrees

7. Role of stakeholders in the external QA ESG Part 2: external quality assurance methods should be designed and developed through a process involving key stakeholders, including HEIs ESG Parts 2-3: participation of students and the use of international experts in the external review processes ensure the validity, reliability and usefulness of those processes

8. Role of stakeholders in the external QA (2) Quality Procedures in the European Higher Education (ENQA 2003): Who are the members of the expert panel? nat. experts representing the areas of focus 77% international experts 73% staff members of the QA agency 40% employers 37% students 22% nat. experts representing institutions 17% professional organisations 13% graduates 7% (36 agency respondents, could choose several options under the same question)

9. Role of stakeholders in the QA of cross-border education (UNESCO-OECD guidelines) Governments should promote reliable QA for cross-border HE provision, recognising that this QA involves both sending and receiving countries; HEIs should ensure that the programmes they offer are of comparable quality and that their internal quality management systems make full use of the competencies of stakeholders (academic staff, administrators, students, graduates); HEIs should collaborate with evaluation/accreditation and student bodies in disseminating information on the QA processes they use; Students should be active partners at international, national and institutional levels in the development, monitoring and maintenance of the QA provision; QA and accreditation bodies should ensure that their QA arrangements include cross-border education provision and that information on such arrangements would be disseminated in collaboration with HEIs, student bodies, and academic recognition bodies

10. Role of stakeholders in the decision-making bodies of the agencies Government (39%), HEI (62%), industry and labour market (44%) and student (33%) representatives are the most common Board/ Council members in the European QA agencies (Quality Procedures in the European Higher Education, 2003) In the Nordic countries the students are always members of the Board/ Council

11. ENQA survey on SI in the processes of QA agencies (2006, 31 respondents) In what way are the students involved in the QA processes? As expert members in teams (excl. position of chair/secretary) 33% As expert members in teams (incl. position of chair/secretary) 10% Observers in teams 10% Planners of evaluation/accreditation 5% Other 41% (consultative role, interviewed during the site-visit, etc.)

12. Students in the decision-making bodies of QA agencies Yes 55% No 45%

13. The role of the student representatives in teams? Equal partner 38% Stakeholder 27% Expert 19% Consumer 8% Other 8%

14. Selection procedures of student representatives Two selection procedures of students used by the agencies: Students are drawn from a national pool of students (Germany, Scotland, Switzerland) Nominated individually by national or European student representative bodies

15. Qualities of a student representative Current or recently graduated HE student Subject-related knowledge Experience in QA and governance within a HEI Experience as student representative Analytical, report writing and communication skills Interest in HE system

16. Role of stakeholders in the review of agencies ESG Annex �A theoretical model� (2005)/ �Guidelines for national reviews� (2006): the external expert group should consist of the following experts: 1-2 QA experts (at least one of them international) 1-2 representatives of HEIs (at least one of them national) student member (national) stakeholder member (e.g. an employer, national)

17. Role of stakeholders in the ENQA-coordinated reviews The review panel of the ENQA-coordinated reviews consists of 5-6 members appointed, based on nominations, by the ENQA Board: 2 quality assurance experts (nominated by the ENQA member agencies, normally senior staff members; cannot be current ENQA Board members) a review secretary (nominated by the ENQA Board) 1-2representative(s) of higher education institutions (nominated by EUA or EURASHE) a student member (nominated by ESU)

18. In conclusion student involvement in quality assurance in higher education has improved in a significant manner still much remains to be done in order to strengthen the relations between the governments, HEIs, QA agencies, students, parents, employers and other stakeholders better responsiveness to the needs of a changing labour market increasing employability