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THOUGHTS ON TRANSPARENCY INSTRUMENTS

THOUGHTS ON TRANSPARENCY INSTRUMENTS. Sjur Bergan, Council of Europe Kraków, October 12, 2011. WHAT’S IN A WORD?. Rankings Rankings “soft” ECTS Diploma Supplement Help for parents, students, general public Tool for newspapers “Transparency international”?. A QUESTION OF DEFINITION?.

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THOUGHTS ON TRANSPARENCY INSTRUMENTS

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  1. THOUGHTS ON TRANSPARENCY INSTRUMENTS Sjur Bergan, Council of Europe Kraków, October 12, 2011

  2. WHAT’S IN A WORD? • Rankings • Rankings “soft” • ECTS • Diploma Supplement • Help for parents, students, general public • Tool for newspapers • “Transparency international”?

  3. A QUESTION OF DEFINITION? • Dictionary: A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. • Ambrose Bierce: The Devil’s Dictionary

  4. SOME TRANSPARENCY TOOLS IN THE EHEA • Quality assurance • Recognition • Reporting • Qualifications frameworks • Bringing it all together

  5. QUALITY ASSURANCE • European Standards and Guidelines • EQAR • ENQA • Ensuring that institutions and programs meet threshold standards • No ranking of those that do • What is the reality behind the procedures? • Issue of trust

  6. RECOGNITION • Council of Europe/UNESCO (Lisboa) Recognition Convention • Subsidiary texts • Especially Recommendation on Criteria and procedures • ENIC/NARIC – LRCC • Interpretations of “substantial differences” • National action plans an exercise in transparency???

  7. REPORTING • Eurydice Report • Stocktaking • Trends • Bologna with Student Eyes • Different perspectives important • Degree of transparency also depends on the will to be honest about shortcomings

  8. QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORKS • Originally: degree systems • Describing • how qualifications fit together • how learners can move within and between systems • Learning outcomes

  9. QUESTIONS ASKED ABOUT QUALIFICATIONS • Is it good enough? • What level is it? • What is the workload? • What is the candidate’s profile? • What does the candidate know, understand and is able to do? • How can I trust this?

  10. IS THE QUALIFICATION GOOD ENOUGH? • Has the institution or program been quality assessed: • According to the ESG • By an agency that is an ENQA member or similar • And that is in the EQAR? • Or by a well established agency operating according to other accepted standards?

  11. WHAT LEVEL IS THE QUALIFICATION? • Qualifications framework • National QF • Self certified against the QF-EHEA (and referenced against the EQF) • With a credible self certification report • With international experts • In the public domain

  12. WHAT IS THE WORKLOAD? • Expressed in terms of credits rather than years or weeks • ECTS as “common currency” • National credits with established and credible “exchange rates” to the ECTS • Link workload <-> level?

  13. WHAT IS THE CANDIDATE’S PROFILE? • Study programs • Rules for combining credits • Broad vs. deep orientation • Combining area of specialization and other areas of interest • Core and additional competences • Learning outcomes

  14. KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, ABILITY TO DO • Learning outcomes • Understandable • Credible • Put into practice • Qualifications frameworks • Understandable • Credible • Implemented

  15. HOW CAN I TRUST THE QUALIFICATION? • Diploma Supplement • Sincere information: admitting problems increases credibility • Presented in terms that relate to international experience (e.g. QF-EHEA, ESG) • Coherent information on the same qualification in different sources • Present own qualities – not necessarily by comparing to others (I can do anything better than you…) • Information, not marketing

  16. WOULD YOU BUY A USED CAR FROM THIS GRADUATE?

  17. AND NOW TO THE… • … Discussion: A method of confirming others in their errors. • Ambrose Bierce: The Devil’s Dictionary

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