Quality Assurance in B&H

2. Quality Assurance in B&H • TEMPUS project „Strengthening Quality Assurance in B&H“ (JEP 19074 2004) - SUS B&H and WUS Austria • “Structural Development of Quality Assurance in Higher Education”, funded by the Liechtenstein Government and Austrian Development Cooperation. • Partners in both projects were all 8 public BH Universities. • MAIN PROJECT AIMS: • institution building (equipment, publications) • capacity building (trainings, study trips, seminars) • International initiatives to strengthen QA in B&H: Council of Europe, OSCE, European Commission through TEMPUS

3. Continuous support to QA • operative QA Offices • As a follow up and further strengthening: “From Quality Assurance to Strategy Development” • In such a way, all projects (ADA/Liechtenstein, TEMPUS) provide necessary preconditions for efficient QA development in BH HE

4. Project conception - Timeline Collecting letters of Endorsement from all project partners Notification by EC of TEMPUS Approval Mid Nov. 2006 - Dec 15 2006 Dec 15 2006 July 2007 Presentation of project idea to partners and collecting feedback Submitting TEMPUS Application

5. Project Profile • Name: From Quality Assurance to Strategy Development • Project number: JEP_41078_2006 • Donor: European Commission – Directorate – General Education and Culture • Budget: 282.865,00 EUR • Co financing: 35.200,00 EUR

6. List of Consortium Members • University of Karl-Francenz Graz (Grant applicant) • WUS Austria (Grant coordinator) • University of Girona (EU partner) • University of Banja Luka • University of Bihać • University Džemal Bijedić in Mostar • University of East Sarajevo • University of Mostar • University of Tuzla • University of Zenica • University of Sarajevo * Individual expert: Oliver Vettori, Head of Office, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration

7. Objectives • SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: • To initiate, enable, support andimplement internal quality controlprocesses at each BH University • To plan, develop and formulate modern, student-oriented university strategies • WIDER OBJECTIVE: • To contribute to a coherent and far-reaching reform of higher education in B&H in accordance with the Bologna Process and in accordance with the society and market needs

8. Outcomes and activities • procurement of equipment for QA offices at BH universities (24.000,00 EUR) • 3-day seminar at University of Girona “EU Experinece in University Self-Assessment”; 8 QA coordinators and 8 university (management) representatives; Experts from University of Girona and University of Graz • 4 trainings in B&H on different roles of: • Students • Administrative staff • Teaching staff • Management In internal quality assurance processes;

9. Based on EU examples and student/academic feedback, each BH University will develop itsown self-assessment procedures. This will involve the preparation of questionnaires,specific to each University, which will be distributed to all faculties and university institutions. => Each BH University will design its own mechanismof scanning the currentsituation in its academic community (assessment of its environment, operations, structure, and results) Involvement of QA offices, university and faculty management, administrative and teaching staff, student representatives! The aim of this activityis to allow each BH University to extract a very comprehensive, objective diagnosis ofits overall system.

10. Autumn 2003, the European University Association (EUA) "A) lack of coherence between evaluation procedures and strategicplanning was found by EUA to be generalized, to a greater or lesser extent, across all sevenuniversities…Another weakness of the self-evaluation procedure across some of the BiH universitieswas that the self-evaluation reports, once written, were not widely distributed and discussed within theuniversity…A third generalized weakness of the self-evaluation procedure across a number ofuniversities was the relatively poor involvement of students and student organizations." http://www.eua.be/eua/jsp/en/upload/BiH_cross_cutting_report.1096645273680.pdf

11. Each BH University will delegate 3 persons who will form the University Strategy DevelopmentTeam (SDT). Each SDT will have a team leader. The SDT task will be to developmodern, student-oriented university strategies, based on the results of self-assessments.The SDTs will therefore work closely with university QA offices and universitymanagement. • During a 3-day seminar, BH Strategy DevelopmentTeams (SDT) will be introduced to EU “best practice” examples of planningand developing modern university strategies. Training content will be delivered by relevantexperts from EU partner institutions. The aim of the seminar is exchange of experiencesand know-how between BH and EU experts.

12. Dissemination and sustainability measures - core activities right from the beginning of the project. • Efficient internal evaluation and strategy development presupposes active involvement andcontribution of all university stakeholders. Internal quality evaluation will not andcannot be the sole responsibility of a university QA Office but rather the responsibility and obligation of all ofits members. Hence the more stakeholders understand the significance and instruments of self-assessmentprocess, the more successful and rewarding will be the final result.

13. Assumptions and risks • The wider university community willlearn how to help in institution self –assessmentand strategy development andwill take active part in both processes • Developed strategies will be apopted byuniversity management as blueprint offuture progress • Resistance to change might appear on alluniversity levels (management,administration, teaching staff) • The wider academic community of eachBH University will receive acomprehensive picture of the overallsituation at its University. • Lack of university autonomy mighthinder system-wide analyses. • Universities in B&H will recognize thatwell-defined, student-oriented strategies, inline with Bologna principles, are aprecondition for integration into theEuropean Higher Education Area.

14. Thank you for your cooperation