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Tempus Project 517340-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-IT-SMGR D OCUMENTATION FOR Q U ALITY ASSURANCE OF STUDY P ROGRAMMES IN PARTNER COUNTRIES. Responsibilities and facilities for internal quality assurance in Azerbaijani Universities (parts 1 and 2) Ruslan SADIRKHANOV Odlar Yurdu University
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Tempus Project517340-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-IT-SMGRDOCUMENTATION FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE OF STUDY PROGRAMMES IN PARTNER COUNTRIES Responsibilities and facilities for internal quality assurance in Azerbaijani Universities (parts 1 and 2) Ruslan SADIRKHANOV Odlar Yurdu University Azerbaijan partners of DoQuP: Baku State University, Khazar University, Azerbaijan Medical University, Qafqaz University, OdlarYurdu University and Ministry of Education of Republic of Azerbaijan Baku 2013
Preface Over two years, we have been successfully working together on the DoQuP project. Certainly, in the implementation process of the project, a vital role plays the project coordinator of DoGuP Prof. Alfredo Squarzoni, University of Genova. Largely due to his outstanding work, our activities have a logically clear and rational character. From the long list of important cases performed, I would like to highlight two of them, which are of particular interest for the project. This is primarily the Questionnaire’s outcomes for the Gathering of the Students’ Opinions on the Information and Data for Quality Assurance of Study Programs (was held on December 2012). The aim of this questionnaire is to gather the students’ opinions on the usefulness of the proposed information and data. The opinions of students are very useful for the improvement of the education process at any university. The second one is developed under the leadership of Prof. Squarzoni “The dictionary of terms for DoQuP” (draft version) in English. It worth to note, that the terminological framework for a qualified understanding of the various aspects of the Bologna process in general, as well as with respect to our DoQuP project, is not yet sufficiently developed in the Azerbaijani language.
In this regard, expanding the dictionary for the Azerbaijani version is timely. The first Azerbaijani version has been prepared already. Among a number of terms that are added to the Azerbaijani version of the dictionary, special attention was paid to the following terms: COPS and SWOT analysis (for university), as well as the Dublin Descriptors, Reflection and Curriculum. These terms are explained in detail in the relevant Annexes 1 and 2. The Azerbaijani version of the dictionary is one of the important ancillary products of the DoGuP project and will benefit the university community of Azerbaijan. In the nearest future this dictionary in Azerbaijani will be improved by all Azerbaijan universities – DoGuP partners and access to the dictionary will be free on their websites.
Responsibilities The internal quality assurance will be carried out at all Azerbaijani Universities – members of DoQuP. All levels of study programs – General, Bachelor, Masters (including MBA program) – are going to be involved. The quality assurance of study programs will be carried out for the improvement of the existing quality standards of Universities study programs by supervising of Quality Assurance Centers’ specialists or by specially organized group of experts. The quality assurance of study programs gives us the opportunity to use internet resources for study programs, to orient the students better, to expand the possibilities of study opportunities. Students will be able to plan and do what is expected from them by the university. Thus the mechanism of quality assurance is going to be guaranteed. It is necessary to create a solid technical basis for the reasonable and effective access of students to the study programs both in and outside the country. The quality assurance will be carried out according to the working document on quality assurance of study programs at the corresponding University. There is a need to carry out internal seminars for the proper implementation of the quality assurance of study programs at each University. Part IResponsibilities and facilities for internal quality assurance in Azerbaijani Universities (overview in brief)
Facilities The facilities for the quality assurance at the Universities will be created by the team of experts from the all faculties. These are experts who had education abroad and are Western-oriented. The necessary technical equipment for the implementation of the program is also available. But, we need to understand the real problems and their causes in the field of higher education of Azerbaijan for the effective implementation of the DoGuP project. Some of them will be explained below which are based on the part of the research provided at the request of the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan for the period of December, 2010 - July, 2011 within the framework of preparations for the project of support for the assurance of quality in higher education. The purpose of this material is to draw attention to the problems that today are seriously hindering the development of the system of higher education in Azerbaijan.
Part IIThe quality assurancein the higher education system of Azerbaijan (overview in general)§1. About the format of research of the quality of higher education • 1.1. Any discussions of quality in higher education in isolation from the specific financial costs of higher education and its overall resource capabilities are improper. It is reasonable to consider this issue, first, in the context of adequate funding of higher education. A more reasonable approach is to study the following question: how does the quality of higher education correlate to the level of current funding of higher education and what should be done to improve this correlation? • This format of study allows: • firstly, to raise the question of goals and objectives in achieving the maximum quality of higher education at the current level of education funding, • secondly, to assess more accurately the need for and the amount of additional funding, if the objective is to strengthen the quality of education comparable. For example, with requirements of the Bologna process or requirements of a number of leading universities in Europe or the United States, selected as a model; and, • thirdly, to carry out objectively comparative analysis of the pair of objects - the quality of higher education and the current level of funding of higher education - in different countries.
It is hard to believe that, for example, in the U.S. or Germany an indicator of the quality of higher education would be higher than in Azerbaijan, if their expenditures per capita on higher education would be the same. (For example, the levels of real financing in the USA and Azerbaijan per capita, accordingly, in education and tertiary education (the last covers higher education and all post-secondary programs) are as following: in the USA in 2011 (population 311.4 million): Federal State and Local Government spending in Fiscal Year 2011 per capita in respectively education/tertiary education is USD2842/USD734; in Azerbaijan in 2011 (population 9.1 million): government spending per capita, respectively, in education/tertiary education is USD184/USD27. This comparison explains the fundamental reasons of backlog in higher education of Azerbaijan from the level of developed countries.) Of course, ultimately, the development of higher education is determined by the appropriate level of development of the country’s economy and its needs. Even the most simplistic estimates indicate how much the positive dynamics of development of higher education have been changing over the last 5-6 years in Azerbaijan. Economic power of Azerbaijan, an absolute regional leader, stimulates the immediate solution of the question of effectiveness and modernization of education, its greater adequacy to economic achievements taking into account the realities and peculiarities of the country.
1.2. PROPOSAL. The required conditions for the modernization of education in Azerbaijan are: • Resources (experts and financing) necessary for the development and implementation of tasks, including the tasks of primary importance for short-term (2-5 years) and medium-term (10 years) periods; and these are • the task of forming a portfolio of education programs in the Azeri language that will meet the best requirements worldwide; • widespread adoption of advanced multimedia technologies in teaching; • definition and implementation of the policy of incentive financing of teachers depending on the level and quality of the tasks tackled by them, including the creation of a mechanism of the financial incentives of the process of training highly qualified teachers and the continuous improvement of their professional level; • establishment of a permanent mechanism for monitoring/evaluating the quality of education at all levels with the ability to quickly correct any arising deficiencies. • Stimulation by the state of the country’s business community involvement in the process of modernization of the education system. • Stimulation of the demand for quality education within the society. • Extensive use of electronic resources by all educational institutions.
§2. Factorsinfluencingthequalityofhighereducation 2.1. In general, establishment of a fair competitive environment, irrespective of the ownership of a university, will become one of the most important factors influencing the quality of higher education. The state can and should play a major role in this process. Another no less important factor should be the stimulating demands of the society and business. 2.2. PROPOSAL. The most important factors reducing the quality of higher education are: 2.2.1. Teachers’ low wages and equalization in wage payments; 2.2.2. Lack of widespread use of modern study programs (particularly in the Azerbaijani language) and technologies; 2.2.3. Lack of opportunities for students to receive a full-scale practical training; 2.2.4. Lack of modern system of management and transparency in the administration of a university and its educational process; 2.2.5. Lack of system of translation into the Azerbaijani language of world-class modern (advanced, contemporary) training aids (tutorials) (including multimedia-based) on a number of important subjects (mathematics, physics, computer science, biology, chemistry, economics, business, etc.) for the universities in Azerbaijan; 2.2.6. Lack of affordable and financially motivated regular training courses for teachers of universities; 2.2.7. Lack of mutually beneficial ties between universities and the business community; 2.2.8. Lack of modern electronic databases and interactive websites in universities that reflect the real process of teaching in the university.
3.1. Today the role of the body, controlling the quality of higher education in Azerbaijan is performed by the Accreditation Department. The department also issues licenses for the setting-up of private universities. For public universities, there is no requirement of licensing. Thus, for private universities, to obtain a license is the primary task, and the accreditation is a secondary thing. • The programs of study (curriculum), various conformity standards for students, educators, etc. are verified in the accreditation process. So far, accreditation in Azerbaijan is free of charge. (There are about 150 programs on the training of specialists. Among them the elective courses make up 20-25% of the total number of courses.) • Accreditation rules do not contain explicit requirements leading to a continuous improvement of the teaching process (note that the next review of the university will be carried out no earlier than after 5 years). • In the process of accreditation, the current level of training programs is not assessed, since these programs are transferred to the universities from the Ministry of Education. • There is no mechanism which prevents the use of outdated literatures, computers and the corresponding software. • There is no mention of modern technologies in teaching. §3. Institutional framework for the self-regulating mechanism of quality assurance at the level of the higher education system on the whole
3.2. In essence, the current Mission of the Accreditation Department is the quality assurance of education based on state standards through the necessary set of assessment and verification procedures covering the main aspects of the education institution.Because the current format of the accreditation is a one-time operation with a five-year period of validity, there is a question of entering such changes in accreditation rules/requirements so that quality in the higher education institutions is represented constantly in the improved process. Consequently, the new mission should reflect this dynamic feature of accreditation. 3.3. PROPOSAL. The following version of the Mission of the Accreditation Department is proposed: The main goal of the Accreditation Department is to assure a continuous development of quality education based on state standards through the necessary set of assessment and verification procedures. The adoption of such a mission dictates what requirements and additional changes need to be incorporated in the rules of accreditation. The most important reasons which affect the quality of education should be noted in the requirements of the accreditation process. Some of them are contained in mentioned above Proposal 2.2.
Other requirements, related to improving the quality of education, are presented below: • Firstly, the university should have a structure that would be responsible for the organization and functioning of the quality assurance system. • The university should have a website, which would objectively reflect the basic parameters of the organization, including: the average wages of teachers, the average admission score, the number of candidates and doctors of sciences of the faculties and their wages, the number of departments, information about the process of ensuring the quality of education, information on the level of provision with modern IT; data on the participation of teachers in national and international conferences and seminars, information on the participation of students in national and international contests and competitions, conferences and seminars. • Each university must submit SWOT and COPS - analysis. • There should be carried out an annual monitoring of the universities selected for individual parameters to determine how the requirements of the Accreditation Department are being implemented (the object of this test may be the level of organization and functioning of the university’s website, or one of the programs of study).
There must be defined a specific requirement of the minimum wage for teachers of universities, depending on their level of professionalism, academic degrees and other achievements. The minimum wage for the candidates and doctors of sciences, for example, may be commensurate with the amount of the average wage in this country or with a share of GDP per capita in the prices of the current period, respectively, with a double and triple multiplier on them. • (It is obvious that a low wage leads to the following negative phenomena - corruption, as well as a low level of professionalism and responsibility. In 2010, the average salary in Azerbaijan made up AZN325 (USD406); gross national product per capita in the prices of the current period was AZN380.3 (USD475.3) per month. Certainly, this issue must be decided on at the governmental level, but not in the Accreditation Department. Nevertheless, justification of the importance of consideration of the problem of minimum wage may originate from the Department with the attraction of local and foreign experts.) • 3.4. Thecurrentaccreditationprocessneedsreformsandstrengtheningtoachievethemainobjectives - ongoingcompliancewithnationalstandardsofhighquality, harmonizedwiththeBolognaprocess. • Forself-regulationofthisprocessanewinstitutionalframeworkisneeded. Self-regulationofthisprocessalsoimpliesindependenceindecision-making. ThesuccessfulexperienceofdevelopedcountriesshowsthatrelevantstructuresforHigherEducationAccreditationmusthavearealindependence.
§4. Aboutthemechanismofqualityassuranceattheuniversitylevel 4.1. It should be noted that it is impossible to develop a common format for the conditions defining the quality assurance for all universities. This is due to their great diversity and fundamental differences among themselves as to the form of ownership - public - private universities - municipal ones, as well as by the nature and scope of their activities. Obviously, it is necessary to give priority to those conditions that are achievable in the current period of time, and takes into account the specifics of the university and its resource capabilities (potential). The successful experience of foreign universities in developed countries and yet few cases of good practice of the local universities show that for the systematic maintenance and development of the quality of education in universities a special structure has to be established, in the activity of which students, teachers and the administration/management will be actively involved.
4.2. The most common are two types of quality assurance systems of higher education (QASHE). The first type is based on the procedures, focused on the evaluation of training programs, student achievement, and teaching level. In addition, for small-scale universities (up to 10000 students), the system of QASHE covers also such areas, important for quality assurance, as management of the university education, social conditions of students and teachers, employment of graduates, etc. This approach is based on the requirements of the document "Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Europe", developed by the European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. Another type is based on the standards and principles for quality series ISO 9000:2000. Both of these approaches are implemented in some universities in Azerbaijan. More precisely, it is Khazar University, Odlar Yurdu University and the University of Languages (which used the first approach) and Qafqaz University (where the second approach was implemented). The development of the format and implementation of regulations and requirements relating to the creation of a quality assurance system in universities is a necessary step for a systematic approach to quality assurance in the university. To do this, you should define objectives sought by a particular institution, and their indicators.
4.3. The scope of activities of the structure of quality assurance of education should cover four major components of the higher education institution: • educational programs and training manuals; • staff of teachers and the mechanism of continuous improvement of their professionalism; • use of modern (advanced) IT in the learning process; • management and the transparency of accountability. • Regularly conducted assessment activities and monitoring should be organized in all four areas. • It should be noted that due to the widespread availability of IT, electronic means of teaching are already the most accessible and cheapest; international experience shows that every 5-7 years on average, textbooks are substantially recycled and they have to be reissued, which is very expensive for the state, while the electronic format manuals will require only the cost of updating their content. • The effectiveness of the structures for quality assurance should be reflected in the relevant measurable indicators (parameters).
Relative to the university as a whole, one can propose the following comprehensive assessment of the quality of offered education. • 4.4. PROPOSAL. The following indicators may be identified as the most important: • a higher rate of employment for graduates of the university as per their chosen specialty within a year after the completion of studies at the university (the most important indicator); • high entrance scores required for admission to the university; • regular participation of the university in international projects and grants; • successful and regular performances of students in international competitions (one of the most prestigious indicators); • a large number of publications by teachers and students in journals included in the corresponding list of most cited journals; • a high percentage of students who secured a primary work during internship; • availability of foreign experts/teachers working at the university; • availability of students studying abroad on exchange programs; • availability of teachers, undergoing internship abroad on exchange programs.
Schematically, the practical operation of the structure responsible for ensuring the quality of education at the university is focused on: • the development of policy and goals of the university needed to ensure the quality of education; • the planning, management and a regular evaluation of the quality assurance process; • the development of proposals to improve the quality of education. • Obviously, each higher education institution should define its own policy on the activity of a quality assurance structure, taking into account specifics of the university. However, this policy should be harmonized both with the basic requirements of the Bologna process in respect of the quality of higher education, and the requirements of Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area.
