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This paper presents data from the Irish Survey of Student Engagement from 2016 to 2021 based on the responses of 232450 first and final year undergraduate and taught postgraduate students. The focus is on students’ social experience and development. It also includes aggregated national results addressing the impact of COVID-19 in 2021 at the height of the pandemic in Ireland. These two sources of quantitative and qualitative data demonstrate the significant negative impact of COVID-19 on students’ social development and experience. The results of StudentSurvey.ie demonstrate the value of student feedback in shaping safeguarding and promoting shared values and the need for student participation including through quality assurance mechanisms such as national surveys in governance and quality assurance of higher education.
This paper was presented at EQAF and reflects the views of the named authors only.
ISSN: 3797
Abstract The massification of higher education in Poland means that labour market outcomes of graduates are an important perspective for future students, higher education institutions as well as the ...
Abstract In 2017, the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) started to pilot a new External Quality Assurance (EQA) model. The guiding principles include: a coherent model in line with ESG and a ...
Abstract To this date, research on the interplay between organisational structure/managerial and organisational value/psychological elements impacting educational quality enhancement is scarce. As a ...
Abstract Student Centred Learning (SCL) has been given a new and distinct role in the European understanding of education quality. Agencies and HEIs are in the process of discussing how the new ESG 1 ...
Abstract This paper aims at describing why and how a QA agency decided to trigger a process of in-depth reflection and consultation on its external quality assurance (EQA) practices in order to ...
Abstract Quality assurance and enhancement is central to all higher education activities. The educational authorities in the Republic of Macedonia (RM) have tried for about a decade, to assure the qu ...
Abstract After the amendment of the Flemish Codex of Higher Education concerning quality assurance and accreditation in June 2015, the Flemish higher education institutions had the opportunity t ...
Abstract While most of the European countries conduct accreditations, quality audits are the Finnish way to follow the Berlin conference’s demand of implementing an external quality assurance instr ...
Abstract In the summer of 2016 NOKUT conducted a survey of academic teachers’ perceptions of quality in ‘their own’ educational programmes. From this survey, the theme of teacher coll ...
Abstract Employers can give a valuable insight into the employability competencies and desired improvements in the higher education quality assurance system. The main aim of the paper is to find ...
Abstract This paper describes the outcomes of a review of practice and related policy and procedures for annual programme monitoring. The review of practice highlighted that there was an artificial s ...
Abstract Student Engagement in module and programme evaluation has become a pressing issue in the quality assurance and enhancement of the higher education teaching and learning environment. ...
Abstract This paper outlines the key data and metrics that are being used to assure and assess quality and standards in United Kingdom (UK) higher education. It is a brief overview of data drive ...
Abstract The paper discusses the necessity for flexibility in QA systems through a case study of a recent merger between four HEIs in Norway. It draws on experience from engineering education and sho ...
Abstract 183 employees of 10 higher education departments described their own attitude and role with respect to quality and diversity. The results reveal rather low levels of involvement. Comparison ...
Abstract The Quality Assurance System for Course Units at Instituto Superior Técnico monitors the course units taught at the institution, by involving the entire academic community in the teaching a ...
Abstract The ever-changing landscape of higher education and the rapid technology advancement are leading to new ways of teaching and assessing. Accordingly, quality assurance (QA) must adapt to thes ...
Abstract The papers describes a project which was established as an agreement of Armenian higher education (HE) stakeholders, some European universities and organization supporting students’ partic ...
Abstract This paper session will cover how the University of Edinburgh has made improvements to data available to support quality assurance and enhancement processes using a project to develop a syst ...
Abstract What should be taken into account when developing University Quality Assurance policies to ensure maximum engagement leading to successful implementation? How could the resistance for develo ...
Abstract The paper presents an overview of the upcoming ISO 21001 standard, which will be published in early 2018 as a Management System Standard for Educational Organizations. It shows how ISO 21001 ...
Abstract This paper addresses a challenge that is often referred to in quality assurance processes: the involvement in these processes of teaching staff. The authors suggest that this challenge ...
Abstract The implementation of the Bologna reform in the Croatian context has led to a number of issues with reforming and delivering doctoral education, including a lack of research qualifications o ...
Abstract In addition to exploring the quality culture paradox in the higher education (HE) area the paper is identifying practical ways for in-depth quality culture evolvement and change, drawing bot ...
Abstract In recent years the tone of voice in higher education policy in the Netherlands has changed from advocating tight control and accountability to giving more room to the ‘soft’ side of qua ...
Abstract Establishing causality between internal quality review (iQR) and impact is important not only for enhancing responsible behaviour but also for demonstrating that quality assurance (QA) has v ...
Abstract Internal quality assurance systems are expected to improve the institutions’ core mission of teaching and learning. Resorting to data gathered through an online survey, distributed in 2014 ...
The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), European Students’ Union (ESU), European University Association (EUA), European Association of Institutions ...
Abstract We developed an analytic framework to strategically plan IQA communication, in order to increase the overall impact of IQA-output. Our paper considers traps and obstacles in communication. D ...
Abstract In 2015, a teaching portfolio pilot project was conducted at the University of Graz. This paper aims at sharing insights and lessons learned from that project and also points at encountered ...
Abstract The continuous process of improving ARACIS activity has two major objectives: increasing the efficacy of the process of internal and external evaluation and the development of new standards ...
Abstract At the University of Graz (Uni Graz) one of the key quality management procedures in terms of research is peer-evaluation. After the first two cycles of evaluation, with different perception ...
Abstract Fair recognition of qualifications, periods of study, and prior learning has been one of the main objectives of the Bologna Process since its creation. The Lisbon Recognition Convention esta ...
Abstract The paper presents Bishop Grosseteste University’s (BGU) experience of introducing and embedding an innovative whole-University student engagement initiative into a small, traditional, Uni ...
Abstract Countries across Europe shared similarities in quality assurance in the higher education area even before the ESG. This paper explores these similarities in different contexts from a student ...
The paper will present an overview of the mandatory use of performance indicators in programme accreditation in Germany. The use of performance indicators in Germany is not new but recent developments ...
Abstract Six quality assurance agencies have recently decided to be part of an active yet informal network (réseau FrAQ-Sup) with the goal of sharing professional experience and supporting the devel ...
Abstract Over the last decades higher education in Sweden has been subject to a number of different national QA systems. Now and then, they have been met with criticism. In 2012, the Swedish Associat ...
In 2017, the Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) began the construction of a new database of relationships with its external partners, both local and international. The database provides the university w ...
This purpose of this paper is threefold: First, it describes the international milieu of policymaking relevant to joint programmes and its development in recent years. It focuses predominantly on the ...
Abstract When implementing a new QA system in 2014, NVAO conceived the Appreciative Approach as the underpinning philosophy of its new QA methodology. Previous QA methodologies were primarily complia ...
Since about 2001 parttime modes of study programs of universities showed decreasing influx of adult students who combine a professional career with (further) higher education. ...
Abstract Student satisfaction is important not only for improving learning outcomes but also for improving retention, progression and completion rates. Raising student satisfaction is strongly correl ...
Dual study programs are hybrid form of higher education, which offer the participant the opportunity to complete a degree program at a higher education institution whilst simultaneously receiving a ce ...
Since 2003, the Scottish Quality Enhancement Framework (QEF) has focussed on enhancement, collaboration and partnership in managing quality. 20 years on, a new tertiary approach to quality will bring ...
Scotland’s Enhancement Themes Student-Led Project (SLP), a national initiative comprised of student representatives from across the country, selected the topic of ‘Promoting Equity of the Student ...
Abstract The extensive establishment and development of external quality assurance agencies all over the world has created a new profession so-called the external quality assurance profession. ...
Abstract There is an increase in number of overlapping student satisfaction surveys in the higher education sector. Here we present results from a national and an institutional survey. The nati ...
Abstract Core academic principles and purposes of higher education can be expressed in such terms as students’ personal development or academic identity. These are important in the Bologna pro ...
Abstract Many higher education institutions are revising, and in some cases reforming, their undergraduate curricula with an objective of providing a higher quality education experience to students. ...
In this paper, the author gives a personal and somewhat critical view on language usage in Dutch higher education. In recent months, the increasing number of English-taught programmes in the Netherlan ...
Caused by a ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, the German accreditation system underwent considerable changes in 2018, which assigned new roles to the German Accreditation Council (GAC), agen ...
The paper describes and analyses a coordinated approach of students’ representation at Study Programme Committees (SPC) of Vilnius University (VU). This approach was developed by Vilnius Univers ...
This paper focuses on quality assurance and recognition process of e-learning courses in Estonian higher education institutions. How this process has so far taken place, what are the bottlenecks and h ...
Even the most pioneering approaches to the student voice in quality can run the risk of over-dependence on a narrow perspective – one that is disproportionally full-time, on-campus and undergrad ...
The external quality audit in Austria encompasses a broad range of HEIs’ activities – alongside the basic duties, they include societal objectives which are supposed to be integrated into ...
Since the establishment of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA (ESG) in 2005, student involvement in quality processes has been viewed as integral and become more widely ado ...
Quality and quality assurance (QA) is everyone’s responsibility. In a higher education institution (HEI) this includes all teaching, research and support staff. Students also play a key role mainly ...
This work aims to discuss the expansion of the University Degree Accreditation System for the Regional Recognition of the Academic Quality of University Degrees in the MERCOSUR and Associate States (t ...
Sustainable Development(SD) is a major subject for society but also for Engineering education. Many citizens think that the consequences concerning climate change or reduction of biodiversity are the ...
The Royal Conservatoire has been testing and implementing a new quality culture with the aim of linking internal and external quality assurance cycles, as well as connecting educational quality and ar ...
On 1 January 2019, Ireland’s first Technological University (TU Dublin) was established when Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB) and Institute of Techn ...
Academic integrity as a concept is not new in higher education, but the manifestation of academic misconduct is increasingly complex, posing a challenge to the maintenance of quality and standards, an ...
The importance of student involvement, student engagement and the student voice to quality assurance and the enhancement of learning and teaching is widely recognised. ...
The ‘European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes’ is a framework to evaluate joint programmes uniformly. It has been in existence since May 2015. Recently, the ‘European Approach ...
Quality assurance in Flemish professional higher education has traditionally focused mainly on teaching and learning processes. Given the threefold mission of universities of applied sciences, however ...
The growing importance of university engagement in the context of 21st century challenges in higher education has led to an increasing demand for university engagement, which calls for evaluation and ...
The paper discusses the opportunities to use sectoral qualifications frameworks in the development of study programmes in higher education. Sectoral qualifications frameworks are extensions of Nationa ...
Many of the student feedback surveys at provider and sector level give a comprehensive insight into the student experience, but they offer only a snapshot at set points in time, often at the end of a ...
A collaborative partnership of higher education institutions, students’ representatives and national agencies has developed and implemented a national survey for postgraduate research students. ...
The European Quality Assurance Register in Higher Education (EQAR) has developed DEQAR with the aim to contribute to the transparency of quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area. DEQAR ...
This research deals with analyzing trends in quality enhancement, pronged challenges and internal breakthrough for holistic quality enhancement in Ethiopian Public Universities. ...
It is generally accepted in Europe that students should be involved in the external Quality Assurance (QA) of higher educations institutions. Requirements for involving students are stated in the ESG, ...
After having established an integrated QA system for teaching & learning, the University of Würzburg now focuses on quality assurance for its science support services of the central administr ...
The credential-space is currently seeing significant innovation, driven by twin priorities, namely the unbundling of learning of micro-learning, and the drive to digitise credentials as prioritised by ...
At a time in which different forms of online education provision are growing in popularity, it is important to bring the assessment of these provisions to the same level. ...
Since 2009, Portuguese higher education institutions have been developing their own internal quality assurance systems and policies as a result of the reforms of higher education quality assurance in ...
In recent times e-learning in different forms has been integrated in a high percentage in the study offerings of HEIs in Europe. The quality assurance of this type of provision has become a concern bo ...
Along with the traditional missions of a university – teaching & learning, and research – a latecomer is now well established in higher education: interaction with society, often designated as ...
The goal of this session is to examine whether there is an opportunity to develop innovative policy tools both at the university and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) level for assessing exter ...
In recent years, Turkish higher education system has witnessed to a radical change by the establishment of Higher Education Quality Council of Turkey (THEQC), which has both financial and administrati ...
Higher education has an impact through social engagement. This paper examines, through a mixed methods approach, the relationship between internal and external quality assurance (QA) and community eng ...
The growing importance for entrepreneurial, student-centred, engaged universities that empower graduates with knowledge, 21st century competencies and skills but also with personal attributes which wi ...
Institutional quality initiatives have been the main guidelines in developing internal Quality Assurance (QA) processes at South East European University (SEEU). The University promotes quality in ord ...
The social dimension of Higher Education has never been before so much emphasized. This is because it is expected that universities will lead the resolution of the challenges that face our societies. ...
Work-Based Learning is gradually becoming an integrated key component in many HE programmes covering a significant number of ECTS credits. It is therefore remarkable that until now not much time and e ...
Presumably we want each expert in external quality assurance procedure to be a great one. And here the hard part arises – what is a great expert? This paper provides research to the question: what c ...
In an everchanging world of student representation, Croatian students have noticed a need for change in the development, organisation and evaluation of the quality of their students` representatives a ...
This contribution presents an assessment of the de jure independence of Quality Assurance Agencies (QAAs) operating at the national level in the field of higher education and which are public in natur ...
This paper describes the experiences by four Dutch universities of applied sciences in the context of a pilot project organised by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. This developmen ...
The relationship between quality assurance and impact has increasingly gaining attention during the last two decades. The focus, however, is usually put on the impact of quality assurance. In this pap ...
This papers presents a quality assurance approach for joint programmes which has been developed by the Una Europa alliance. The Una Europa partners developed a lean joint internal quality assuran ...
This paper illustrates how HEIs, experts and a quality assurance agency address the key challenges of building trust among stakeholders and, while being engaged in an experimental “learning by doing ...
Quality assurance systems in Higher Education see the evaluation process as a fundamental phase of their development, as it is fundamental to the definition and verification of the achievement of thei ...
The presentation will focus on the result obtained by sharing values in the international space by discussing the case of Georgia. ...
In this paper we explore how equity and inclusion in Higher Education (HE) can be promoted from a quality assurance agency. ...
Having a good Internal Quality Assurance System (IQAS) is considered essential in order to respond to the current challenges of universities. ...
Not many people ask the question of what exactly in higher education is valuable, and for whom. In this article the author uses a sharp question to research what higher education brings, and to whom. ...
In the era of globalization, ‘new’ policy issues appear in the process of Quality Assurance in Higher Education Institutions such as public confidence, the way of sharing academic values(instituti ...
The 2019 European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) is taking place this week at Technical University Berlin in Germany. More than 500 participants are attending the event, which runs from 21-23 November ...
By Tia Loukkola, Director of Institutional Development and senior quality assurance expert at the European University Association. In Europe, quality assurance has made major strides since the beginn ...
New approaches to quality assurance in different regions of the world are contributing to a global dimension in the field. EUA’s Tia Loukkola takes note of frameworks in Africa, Asia and Europe, exa ...
A recent EUA study stresses that contributing to innovation in society is a central mission of today’s higher education institutions. EUA’s Tia Loukkola examines the role of quality assurance in t ...
External quality assurance reports are publicly available, demonstrating transparency and building trust and confidence in the quality of higher education. As EQAR’s Colin Tück explains, a new data ...
Reports produced by quality assurance agencies can be used in many ways, including in policy-making. As EUA’s Tia Loukkola explains, there is much room for bettering the accessibility and use of inf ...
How can universities frame their internal quality assurance and shake up the image of the bureaucratic burden? EUA’s Tia Loukkola gives us three approaches and tells us why the most effective proces ...
Numerous cases of positive change in higher education systems can be attributed to EUA’s Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP). As IEP celebrates its 25th anniversary, Andrée Sursock looks back ...
Will quality assurance as we know it remain relevant amid the changing higher education landscape? What changes are needed? EUA’s Tia Loukkola gives an overview of the diverse questions to be addres ...
This year, EUA’s Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP) marks 25 years since its foundation. Tatjana Volkova, Chair of IEP Steering Committee, and EUA expert Anna Gover reflect on the benefits tha ...
Cross-border quality assurance has been slow in the making over the past two decades. However, as EUA’s Tia Loukkola explains, a new political context in Europe and the launch of new networks and co ...
What would be the most effective way forward for universities to promote social dimension in their respective contexts? EUA expert Tia Loukkola discusses the role that quality assurance can play and i ...
The Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) have led to major developments, however there are now proposals for revisions. EUA expert Tia Loukkola lo ...
Micro-credentials are growing exponentially in popularity, attracting the interest of various stakeholders due to their flexibility and ability to meet the demands of a rapidly changing labour market. ...
Learning outcomes are increasingly used in qualifications frameworks and quality assurance processes. As such, they aim to secure and foster public trust among education providers. Yet, against the ba ...
External quality assurance across the European Higher Education Area is highly diverse. EQAR’s Melinda Szabo maps the situation through the rich datasets of the Database of External Quality Assuranc ...
As learning pathways are increasingly international, the recognition of qualifications and credits obtained abroad is a key issue for countries and higher education institutions. Sebastian Bruque from ...
Micro-credentials are expected to widen participation in higher education by supporting inclusion and facilitating access to education. They are also expected to close the skills gaps in the labour ma ...
The European University Association’s Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP) has outstanding experience in conducting institutional evaluations. Here, our quality assurance experts Elena Cirlan an ...
As places of teaching and learning, how can universities tangibly create a culture of togetherness and well-being? Here, Jochen Schellinger explains Bern University of Applied Sciences’ efforts to d ...
Can, and should, quality assurance play a greater role in ensuring that common academic values are respected? EUA’s Maria Kelo examines recent debates on the scope of QA in higher education. Qualit ...
Wladimir Mufty reflects on his organisation’s work to explore a higher education and research social media platform based on public values, and offers some mastodo’s and mastodon’ts. Social med ...
For Elizabeth Gadd, it is time for the higher education sector to think carefully about the effects of global university rankings. To explain why, she responds to three simple questions. The perverse ...
EUA works to ensure that the views of the university sector are taken into account in European and national-level policy discussions on internal and external quality assurance. It also supports its me ...
