20 years after Bolonia
Quality challenges
Eva Ferreira (Vice-president of ENQA,
Chief director of Unibasq)
Basque country
SPAIN is divided in 17 autonomous regions. One is the Basque
Autonomous Community, a small region next to the northwest border
with France.
Languages: Basque and Spanish
UNIBASQ: Basque University System Quality
Assurance Agency
SPANISH QUALITY AGENCIES
 Agencia Andaluza del Conocimiento (AAC)
 Agencia Canaria de Calidad Universitaria y Evaluación Educativa (ACCUEE)
 Agencia de Calidad y Prospectiva Universitaria de Aragón (ACPUA)
 Agencia de Calidad, Acreditación y Prospectiva de las Universidades de Madrid
(ACAP)
 Agència de Qualitat Universitària de les Illes Balears (AQUIB)
 Agència per a la Qualitat del Sistema Universitari de Catalunya (AQU)
 Axencia para a Calidade do Sistema Universitario de Galicia (ACSUG)
 Agencia Valenciana d´Avaluació i Prospectiva (AVAP)
 Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación (ANECA)
 Euskal Unibertsitate Sistemaren Kalitatea Ebaluatu eta Egiaztatzeko Agentzia
(UNIBASQ)
▪ Umbrella NGO for European QA
agencies
▪ Network in 2000; association in 2004
▪ Move from Finland to Belgium 2011
▪ Structure: Board, General Assembly,
Secretariat
• NAB - National Accreditation Bureau
for Higher Education, Prague (affiliate)
ENQA: European Association for Quality
Assurance in Higher Education
WHY EUROPEAN QUALITY ASSURANCE?
FROM BOLONIA TO PARIS
Bologna Declaration (1999) 29 countries
• It was to encourage European cooperation in quality assurance of higher
education with a view to developing comparable criteria and
methodologies.
• Establishment of a system of credits - such as in the ECTS system – as
a proper means of promoting the most widespread student mobility.
• Promotion of mobility by overcoming obstacles to the effective
exercise of free movement
EUROPE very young in 1999
 The single European act 1986
allows the free circulation of goods
 The fall of Berlin Wall in 1989, reunification in 1990.
 Maastrich treaty in 1992 recognizes for the first time higher
education as a competence in the European Union
 Euro in 2002
 Schengen agreements were effective only for 7 countries in 1995.
In 1999 is integrated in the European Union
WHY EUROPEAN QUALITY ASSURANCE?
FROM BOLONIA TO PARIS
Berlin 2003 (33 countries)
• The Ministers of the Bologna Process signatory states invited the European Network
for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) ‘through its members, in
cooperation with the EUA, EURASHE, and ESIB’, to develop ‘an agreed set
of standards, procedures and guidelines on quality
assurance’ and to ‘explore ways of ensuring an adequate peer
review system for quality assurance and/or accreditation
agencies or bodies, and to report back through the Bologna Follow-Up Group
to Ministers in 2005’.
• Also, Ministers reaffirm the importance of the social dimension of the
Bologna Process.
1998 → 2003
European Standards and Guidelines
ESG 2005
WHY EUROPEAN QUALITY ASSURANCE?
FROM BOLONIA TO PARIS
Bergen 2005 strengthen the social dimension of HEIs
London 2007 specifically refers to the need of moving towards student-centred
higher education (40 countries)
• There is an increasing awareness that a significant outcome of the process will be a
move towards student-centred higher education and away from teacher driven
provision. We will continue to support this important development.
• Higher education should play a strong role in fostering social cohesion, reducing
inequalities and raising the level of knowledge, skills and competences in society.
Policy should therefore aim to maximise the potential of individuals in terms of their
personal development and their contribution to a sustainable and democratic
knowledge-based society. We share the societal aspiration that the student body
entering, participating in and completing higher education at all levels should reflect the
diversity of our populations. We reaffirm the importance of students being able to
complete their studies without obstacles related to their social and economic
background.
WHY EUROPEAN QUALITY ASSURANCE?
FROM BOLONIA TO PARIS
Yerevan 2015 (47 countries)
• Today, the EHEA faces serious challenges. It is confronted with a
continuing economic and social crisis, dramatic levels of unemployment,
increasing marginalization of young people, demographic changes, new
migration patterns, and conflicts within and between countries, as well as
extremism and radicalization.
• We will encourage and support higher education institutions and staff in
promoting pedagogical innovation in student-centred learning environments
and in fully exploiting the potential benefits of digital technologies for learning
and teaching.
• Albania
• Andorra
• Armenia
• Austria
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Belgium
• Bosnia and
Herzegovina
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Georgia
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• Kazakhstan
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Moldova
• Montenegro
• Netherlands
• North Macedonia
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Russia
• Serbia
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Turkey
• Ukraine
• United Kingdom
• Vatican City
WHY EUROPEAN QUALITY ASSURANCE?
FROM BOLONIA TO PARIS
WHY EUROPEAN QUALITY ASSURANCE?
FROM BOLONIA TO PARIS
Paris 2018 (48 countries)
• …further development and full implementation of student-centred learning
and open education in the context of lifelong learning. Study
programmes that provide diverse learning methods and flexible learning can foster
social mobility and continuous professional development whilst
enabling learners to access and complete higher education at any stage of their lives.
• …. to provide inter-disciplinary programmes as well as to combine academic and
work-based learning. Students should encounter research or activities linked to
research and innovation at all levels of higher education to develop the critical and
creative mind-sets which will enable them to find novel solutions to emerging
challenges. In this regard, we commit to improving synergies between education,
research and innovation.
WHY EUROPEAN QUALITY ASSURANCE?
FROM BOLONIA TO PARIS
Paris 2018 (48 countries) Beyond 2020: a more ambitious EHEA
• We commit to developing the role of higher education in securing a sustainable future for
our planet and our societies and to finding ways in which we, as EHEA Ministers, can
contribute to meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
at global, European and national levels.
• .. further effort is required to strengthen the social dimension of higher education. In
order to meet our commitment that the student body entering and graduating from European
higher education institutions should reflect the diversity of Europe’s populations, we will
improve access and completion by under-represented and vulnerable groups. Therefore, we
mandate the BFUG to take this issue forward by the next EHEA Ministerial conference.
WHY EUROPEAN QUALITY ASSURANCE?
FROM BOLONIA TO PARIS
• Bolonia (29 countries) to Paris (48)
• In 1999 main goals mobility and recognition
• In 2018 mobility, recognition, SCL, involvement in the HEIs with
the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals at global,
European and national levels (European cohesion, inclusiveness,
etc)
• European standards, ESG are the framework for QA
• Enhancement of quality and the development of a quality
culture in higher education, mainly related with
• Transparency, * Teaching methodologies
• Public information
• Mobility * Internationalization
• Flexibility,
• Internal quality systems * Role of students
QUALITY ASSURANCE RESULTS
• B. Stensaker (2003) Trance, Transparency and
Transformation: The impact of external quality monitoring
on higher education, Quality in Higher Education.
Effects of external quality monitoring (EQM)
• Increase of institutional transparency
• Increase of attention towards the quality of teaching
• More autonomous role for the institutional management
• Role of stakeholders, students
QUALITY ASSURANCE RESULTS
Policy for quality assurance Standards for external
quality assurance
Standards and guidelines
for quality assurance agencies
1.1 Policy for quality assurance 2.1 Consideration of internal
quality assurance
3.1 Activities, policy and
processes for quality assurance
(international experts)
1.2 Design and approval of programmes 2.2 Designing methodologies
fit for purpose
3.2 Official status
1.3 Student-centred learning,
teaching and assessment
2.3 Implementing processes 3.3 Independence
1.4 Student admission, progression,
recognition and certification
(mobility)
2.4 Peer-review experts 3.4 Thematic analysis
(international reflection)
1.5 Teaching staff (SCL) 2.5 Criteria for outcomes 3.5 Resources
1.6 Learning resources and student
support (mobility and
internationalization, SCL)
2.6 Reporting 3.6 Internal quality assurance
and professional conduct
1.7 Information management 2.7 Complaints and appeals 3.7 Cyclical external review of
agencies
1.8 Public information
1.9 On-going monitoring and periodic
review of programmes (society)
ESG
2015
 ESG 1.3 Student centered learning
To facilitate that students have their own skills
to become citizens with abilities related with
CRITICAL VISION, CREATIVITY
EMPATHY,
LEADERSHIP,
ENTREPRENEURSHIP,
MOBILITY,
FREEDOM,
QUALITY ASSURANCE RESULTS
Higher education institutions have become more ‘bureaucratic’
Academics often reported that they felt like being ‘inspected’
Are we evaluating quality of results? Or mainly procedures?
QUALITY ASSURANCE RESULTS
Main points for discussion for QA
 Different levels of maturity → different procedures for quality
assurance
 Different stages for universities and QAAs. Periodical reviews do
not need to be the same. This will drastically reduce the
bureaucracy.
 Second and following reviews more academic, focused in the main
objectives and the procedures to improve them.
 Need of strategic plan, assurance of “fit for purpose”, and “fit of
purpose”.
Social purpose of HEIs? 2020 …
 SCL and how this improves results related with the main goals of HE,
such as employability, skills as creativity, leadership, empathy, group
working,.
 Should QA contribute to strengthen the social dimension of higher
education? Is the European HE system more cohesive now than in 1999?
Are we planning to deal with the SDG 2015?
The case of Unibasq
 Programs, we do three special recognitions: Work based
learning, Internationalization, innovative methodologies
for SCL.
 Program accreditation → Institutional accreditation.
 Should QA contribute to strengthen the social dimension
of higher education? YES: We are incorporating how the
institution works transversal skills and the SDG.
EUROPEAN OBJECTIVES
1999
Bolonia
Recognition,
Who?
Common
measures
2010
ESG: Quality
assurance
How?
Fit for purpose
2020Beyond
ESG:
Social challenges
What?
Fit of purpose
ESKERRIK ASKO! ¡GRACIAS!
Děkuji moc
THANK YOU!