21 November 2013 | EQAF Paper

Working together for enhancement-led and voluntary institutional quality audit

Christian Stråhlman, Bengt-Ove Boström

Abstract

The national QA system in Sweden does not any longer include assessment of the institutions’ internal QA procedures. The Experts Group on Quality at the Swedish Association for Higher Education (SHUF) has proposed and tested how voluntary audits can be performed by the institutions in collaboration, coordinated by SUHF. The audits have quality enhancement as its sole purpose. The audit method focuses on quality management, acknowledging the diversity of institutions and the national context.


This paper includes results from pilot studies earlier this year. It is demonstrated how voluntary audits can be valuable as an external QA element in the institutions’ quality management. Using the audit as a voluntary and flexible element allows it to address the specific needs of the institutions and keeps the strain on human and financial resources limited.

 

 

This paper was presented at EQAF and reflects the views of the named authors only.

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