Organizing Quality Assurance for Multiple Programs in a Decentralized Organizational Setting
The Case of Copenhagen Business School
Abstract
Program QA at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) faces two major challenges; (1) large number of different programs, and (2) decentralized organisation of the program area. CBS has more than 60 programs in the portfolio, each managed by an autonomous Study Board. The paper demonstrates how CBS has addressed these challenges in a quality policy based on two main elements. Standards and Guidelines for day to day quality operations are combined with recurrent 5 year cycle peer reviews of every program.
It is demonstrated how optimal use of existing information from various sources can be combined to provide a parsimonious picture of program performance, without putting too much burden on program managers. Both external and internal peer reviewers are used in order to create dialogue, mutual inspiration, increased alignment across programs, and balance between formative development and summative assessment. Early experiences with implementation of the QA system are discussed.
This paper was presented at EQAF and reflects the views of the named authors only.
