Quality Review at Irish Universities - A tool for empowerment and reform?

1. Quality Reviewat Irish Universities-A tool for empowerment and reform? Dr Padraig Walsh Chief Executive Irish Universities Quality Board “Leadership through Change” DCU, 3 November 2005

2. “Leadership through Change” • “continuous internal institutional reform” • “the reform agenda” • “refocusing of the organisation’s culture” • “changing the organisation”

3. Outline of Presentation • Quality Assurance? • QA in Irish Universities • Legislation • Practice • Role of QA in University Reform • Ireland • Europe

4. Irish Universities Quality Board established 2003 Website: www.iuqb.ie

5. Irish Universities Quality Board Independent, non-statutory body 17 member Board 7 nominees from IUA (universities) 10 other nominees HEA, NQAI, IBEC, ICTU, USI European, American university system Funded by Universities, HEA Currently being incorporated

6. Quality ???

7. The Quality Assurance Lexicon • Quality Review (Evaluation) • Improvement • Enhancement • Formative • Accreditation • Judgement-based

8. The Quality Assurance Lexicon • Accreditation is likened to … • doing an examination • Quality Review is likened to … • going to confession

9. Quality Review • Quality as ‘fitness for purpose’ • Balancing Improvement and Accountability • “Navigating between Scylla and Charybdis”

10. Principles of Quality Assurance • System should be built on excellence • System should be built on trust

11. Quality Assurance in Irish Universities Universities Act (1997)

12. Universities Act 1997 Legislation that requires the University to put in place “quality assurance procedures aimed at improving the quality of education and related services provided by the university”

13. Universities Act 1997 “The (QA) procedures shall include the evaluation of .. each department (of the university) .. and each faculty (of the university) .. and any service provided by the university by employees of the university and by persons .. who are competent to make nationaland international comparisons on the quality ofteaching and research and the provision of services at university level”

14. Universities Act 1997 “The procedures shall include assessment by those, including students, availing of the teaching, researchand otherservices provided by the university”

15. Universities Act 1997 System of QA based on primary legislation that defines basis for: • Internal QA procedures for individual universities • External QA of individual universities • Periodic audits (organised by IUQB) of the effectiveness of QA procedures in individual universities • External QA of university sector • Review (organised by HEA) of QA procedures in university sector

16. Principles of Irish QA Legislation • Primary responsibility for Quality Assurance rests with the University • Internal QA: with the active contribution of students, universities must evaluate all their activities, including service departments • External QA: should focus on checking through institutional audit that internal monitoring has been effectively done

17. Quality Assurance in Irish Universities What happens in practice?

18. Legislationto Methodology • Self-assessment • of Academic/Administrative Departments • assessment by students/stakeholders • Peer Review (from list of nominees) • National experts • International experts • Publication of Findings • Implementation of Recommendations • Follow-up

19. Quality Assurance in Irish Universities Self-Assessment / Self-Evaluation

20. Self Assessment – 4 questions • What are we trying to do? • How are we trying to do it? • How do we know it works? • How do we change to improve?

21. Quality Assurance in Irish Universities Academic Department Review

22. Academic Department Review • Easily identified “products” • Teaching Programmes • Research Inputs and Outputs • Service (Committees / Societies ) • Easily identified “stakeholders” • Familiarity with Peer Review • Research Grants • Manuscipts for Journals • Examination Papers

23. Quality Assurance in Irish Universities Administrative Department Review

24. Administrative Department Review • Not easy to identify “products/processes” • More complex stakeholder system • Student Affairs (mainly students) • Human Resources (mainly staff) • Computer Services (everybody) • Less familiar with Peer Review • Must be reviewed themselves • Are reviewed by everybody else!!

25. Self-Assessment Methodolgy • In Ireland, we use the same methodology as when reviewing academic departments • In other countries, Quality reviews of HEIs tend to focus on: • Subject review • Accreditation of programmes • In such systems, Administrative Departments get evaluated only insofar as they serve or support the academic function

26. Principle of Self Assessment • Report should provide a succinct, comprehensive statement of Unit activities • Report should be a self-criticial analysis of the Unit, including how the Unit sees itself contributing to the Mission of the Organisation and the Strategic Plan

27. Self Assessment of Units Lessons learned since 1995

28. Self Assessment Report • A statement consisting solely of functions, activities and outputs is not a self-assessment Report • A good self-assessment report implies no surprises for Review Team • Review visit is a validation of the self-assessment report

29. Self Assessment (of unit) recipes for success • Co-ordinating committee of Unit representative of all staff at ALL grades • Involvement of the Head

30. Self Assessment (of unit) recipes for success • Have a small but representative Quality committee • Regular communication with all staff not on the Quality Committee

31. Good Self Assessment Good Peer Review Report!

32. Good Self Assessment Good Peer Review Quote from a (good) self-assessment report “ . . . during the course of the two days of meetings, it was notable that no significant areas of criticism were identified which had not already been noted in the (self-assessment) report . . . ”

33. Good Self Assessment Good Peer Review • Benchmark. Aim high! • Aim high! Nominate first-class reviewers

34. Quality Assurance in Irish Universities Follow-up / Implementation

35. Follow up at Unit level Demonstrate leadership! • Circulate Review Report to all staff • Agree a plan of action (Quality Improvement) with timescales and deliverables • 1 year • 5 year

36. Follow up at Unit level Demonstrate leadership! • Publish the Review Report (visibly!) • Publish the Quality Improvement Plan • Agree to report on progress with the 1 year plan 1 year later • Perhaps invite members of review group back

37. Follow-up Lessons for Leadership • Remember who you are assuring • Students • Staff • External stakeholders • QR process is not simply a management tool • Each level is being judged on its response to recommendations • Department • Faculty • Management Team

38. Reviews of Irish Higher Education Review and reform

39. Reviews of Irish HE OECD Review of Higher Education in Ireland (2004) • By Politicians/Civil Servants for Politicians/Civil Servants! • Diagonal slice look through Irish Higher Education

40. Reviews of Irish HE EUA Review of Quality Assurance in Irish Universities (2004-05) • By universities for universities! • Individual reports on 7 Irish Universities • Cross-cutting report on university sector

41. EUA Review of QA in Irish Universities 2004-05 European University Association (EUA) were jointly commissioned by IUQB and the Higher Education Authority to: • Review the quality assurance procedures in the Irish University sector • 1 report • Review the effectiveness of quality assurance procedures in the individual Irish Universities • 7 reports

42. EUA Review of QA in Irish Universities 2004-05 “ ... in the context of (each university’s) overall institutional decision making and strategic planning”

43. EUA Review of QA Strengths

44. EUA Review of QA - strengths • “(the) systematic organisation and promotion of QA at the initiative of the universities themselves .. is unparalleled in any other country in Europe, or indeed in the United States and Canada” • “A common framework for QA has been agreed collectively by all the Irish Universities through IUQB”

45. Irish Universities Quality Board (IUQB) IUQB was established voluntarilyby the Irish Universities in 2003 with the aim of increasing the level of inter-university co-operation in developing quality assurance processes

46. EUA Review of QA - strengths • “The system would appear to strike the right tone and combination of public interest, accountability and university autonomy” • “The agreed IUQB focus on quality improvement is particularly to be commended”

47. EUA Review of QA - strengths • “(system) encourages a greater focus on quality and improvement than some systems worldwide, while .. being less intrusive than some other systems in Europe” • “(this activity) has taken place without the existence of a government agency”

48. EUA Review of QA - strengths • “not linked to the distribution of core governmental funding” • “concept of quality is being built into discussions at many levels across each university campus”

49. QA in a university Required Practice v Good Practice

50. EUA Review of QA Weaknesses