European Doctoral Training Support in Micro/Nano-Electronics

EUROPEAN COMMISSION EURO-DOTS : an ICT - CSA Action

European Doctoral Training Support in Micro/Nano-electronics

Grant Agreement Number 257051

Rules for accreditation of the courses in the EURO-DOTS Program

Deliverables D3.3– Report

Work Package 3 – Rules and Criteria for Courses:

Eligibility Criteria for Course Modules

Author : Michel Declercq (EPFL) Approved by : (Steering Committee)

Keywords : Doctoral School, ECTS Credits, Courses modules, Eligibility criteria, accreditation rules

Abstract :

Courses accepted in the EURO-DOTS portfolio must fulfill strict requirements on the overall quality, scientific level, organization, exams and attribution of ECTS credits. This deliverable details the accreditation rules and process, based on the eligibility rules defined in D3.2 and that have been approved by the steering Committee. These rules are intended to be applied by the Academic Committee in the accreditation process.

Due Delivery Date : 1st May 2011 Actual Date of Delivery : March 30, 2011

Status : Final

Dissemination Level : PU

1 - Introduction and Summary

The courses selected in the EURO-DOTS portfolio must fulfill strict requirements on the overall quality, scientific level, organization, exams and attribution of ECTS credits. These eligibility criteria have been discussed and approved by the steering Committee, and are described in D3.2. These criteria will be applied by the Academic Committee in the course accreditation process.

As a result of D3.1, it appears that the accreditation procedures for PhD-level courses offered by Doctoral Schools are quite similar in most European universities. The accreditation obtained by a course is a first guarantee of quality, scientific level and target audience. It significantly eases its accreditation by other European universities.

However, there is usually no formal requirement for this accreditation. Typically, a new candidate course is presented by the teacher to a scientific board, composed of internal members of the university in the field of the doctoral program. If the scientific board is convinced by the level of the course and by its coherence within the program, it is accepted and accredited for ECTS credits.

The accreditation (or formal acceptance as a PhD course) of a proposed course by at least one major European university is therefore a necessary condition for being accepted in the EURO-DOTS portfolio.

The further accreditation of a course by the Academic Committee of EURO-DOTS is a supplementary guarantee of its high quality, and the proof that it satisfies the severe EURO-DOTS criteria. The ultimate goal is therefore to achieve a global accreditation of the EURO-DOTS portfolio by several European universities.

Accreditation rules for university courses are applied in Europe by several national and transnational agencies. They however concern mainly the bachelor and Master levels. At the PhD level, even if there is actually no common rules, an interesting approach for according the qualification standards through Europe is proposed by the European Qualification Framework (EQF).

Starting from this proposal, the EURO-DOTS eligibility criteria have been completed for defining the accreditation process.

Considering the fact that no general consensus still exists on this, The EURO-DOTS proposal tries to offer a workable solution. The accreditation issue will be further followed up by the Academic Committee. Over time, if new developments (and eventually agreements) are reached within the European university community on this, an adapted version of - or amendment to - these rules for accreditation will be issued.

Such an accreditation process of PhD-level course at the European level is a first, and should establish the EURO-DOTS Quality Label as an European Standard.

The Academic Committee will review the courses against all the criteria (eligibility and accreditation) and the selected courses will be given the EURO-DOTS label.

2. The assessment and accreditation frameworks in Europe

2.1 Accreditation Agencies and Initiatives in Europe

Austria

AAC - Austrian Accreditation Council, Vienna

AQA - Austrian Agency for Quality Assurance, Vienna

FHR - Fachhochschulrat, Vienna

Belgium

VLHORA - Council of Flemish Institutions of Higher Education, Brussels

VLIR - QAU - Flemish Interuniversity Council Quality Assurance Unit, Brussels

NVAO - Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders,

Bulgaria

NEAA - National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency, Sofia

The Czech Republic

Accreditation Commission Czech Republic, Prague 1

Denmark

EVA - Danish Evaluation Institute, Copenhagen

The Accreditation Institution, Copenhagen K

Finland

FINHEEC - Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council, Helsinki

France

AERES - Evaluation Agency for Research and Higher Education, Paris

CTI - Commission des Titres d'Ingénieur, Neuilly-sur-Seine

Germany

ACQUIN - Accreditation, Certification and Quality Assurance Institute, Bayreuth

AHPGS - Accreditation Agency for Study Programmes in Health and Social Sciences,

Freiburg

AQAS - Agentur für Qualitätssicherung durch Akkreditierung von Studiengängen,

Bonn

ASIIN – Accreditation Agency Specialized in Accrediting Degree Programs in Engineering,

Informatics, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Dusseldorf.

EVALAG - Stiftung Evaluationsagentur Baden-Wuerttemberg, Mannheim

FIBAA - Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation, Bonn

GAC - German Accreditation Council, Bonn

ZEvA - Central Evaluation and Accreditation Agency Hannover, Hannover

Hungary

HAC - Hungarian Accreditation Committee, Budapest

Ireland

HETAC - Higher Education and Training Awards Council, Dublin 2

IUQB - Irish Universities Quality Board, Dublin 2

NQAI - National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, Dublin 1

The Netherlands

NVAO - Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders, The Hague

Norway

NOKUT - Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education, Oslo

Poland

PKA - The State Accreditation Committee, Warsaw

Romania

ARACIS - Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, Bucharest

Russia

NAA - National Accreditation Agency of the Russian Federation, Yoshkar-Ola

Slovakia

Accreditation Commission, advisory body of the Government of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava

Spain

ACSUCYL - Quality Assurance Agency for the University System in Castilla y León,

Valladolid

ACSUG - Agency for Quality Assurance in the Galician University System, Santiago

de Compostela

AGAE - Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education and Research of Andalusia,

Córdoba

ANECA - National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain, Madrid

AQU - Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency, Barcelona

Sweden

NAHE - National Agency for Higher Education, Stockholm

Switzerland

OAQ - Center for Accreditation and Quality Assurance of the Swiss Universities, Bern

QAA - Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, Gloucester

European Union

EUA - Institutional Evaluation Program of the European University Association

ENQA (the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education)

EQF - European Qualifications Framework (European Commission Education &

Training)

2.2 Results of the survey described in D3.1 on European Doctoral Schools and PhD-level accreditation in Europe

The accreditation of courses proposed for a Doctoral Program is performed in most European universities, as concluded from the result of the survey (Task T3.1, Deliverable D3.1).

The accreditation obtained by a course by the Doctoral School of its home university is a first guarantee of quality, scientific level and target audience. It significantly eases its accreditation by other European universities.

The accreditation process of a study program is generally a long and demanding process. However, such a long process is applicable for a true "study program" such as Bachelor and Master degrees. At the PhD level, there is much more flexibility. Each "program" offered by a Doctoral School is, in most cases, a coherent list of accredited courses in a given field. Each course has been accredited individually, and PhD students are free to choose some of the courses in this list for collecting their ECTS credits.

There is actually a trend in Europe for defining some more formalized criteria for the accreditation of PhD-level courses. The following paragraphs will give a short survey of the status of reflections and propositions issued from several European organizations.

2.3. Overview of selected accreditation organizations in Europe

2.3.1 NVAO (Nederlands-Vlaamse Accreditatie Organisatie)

http://www.nvao.net/

NVAO is the Accreditation Organization of the Netherlands and Flanders. The organization was established by international treaty and it ensures the quality of higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders.

NVAO independently ensures the quality of higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders by assessing and accrediting programs and contributes toenhancing this quality.
In addition, NVAO contributes tothe increase ofquality awareness within higher education andimproving the position of higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders in the national and international context.

The accreditation procedures of the Netherlands and Flanders relate to both accreditation and initial accreditation. Accreditation concerns programs that are already offered by institutions and which are registered in the official register of recognized programs in the Netherlands (i.e. CROHO) and in Flanders (i.e. Higher Education Register). Initial accreditation concerns programs that are not yet offered and/or which are not registered in the official registers of recognized programs mentioned above.

2.3.2 EUR-ACE (European Accredited Engineering Programs)

http://www.feani.org/webfeani/

EUR-ACE proposes a label that is an European quality label for engineering degree programs at Bachelor and Master level.

The EUR-ACE label is added to the national accreditation and gives it an international value.

The EUR-ACE® labelcan beawarded to programs that fulfill the EUR-ACE Framework Standards. These standards are described in:

http://www.cti-commission.fr/IMG/pdf/A1_EUR-ACE_Frwrk_Stds_Final_05_11_17.pdf

The European Network for Accreditation of Engineering Education (ENAEE) authorizes qualified National Accreditation Agencies (or analogous bodies) to award the EUR-ACE labels.

ENAEE is the network of stakeholders from all fields of engineering that promotes the European accreditation of engineering programs and runs the EUR-ACE label system. It owns the EUR-ACE label and authorizes agencies to award it to qualified engineering programs.

The EUR-ACE label does not cover PhD-level courses and Doctoral Programs

2.3.3 CTI (Commission des Titres d’Ingénieurs)

http://www.cti-commission.fr/

CTI (Commission des Titres d’Ingénieur) is an independent body fully involved in the development of the European Higher Education Area, established by the French law in 1934.
Its missions are respectively: the evaluation and accreditation of higher education institutions in the fields of engineering, computer science, applied mathematics, project management, etc; the development of quality in engineering education; the promotion of engineering curricula and careers in France and abroad. (ie. Germany, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Viet-Nam, others in process...)

An agreement of mutual recognition between CTI and NVAO accreditations has been signed

in Barcelona in Novembre 2007.

http://www.cti-commission.fr/Accord-CTI-NVAO

2.3.4 ASIIN (Akkreditierungsagentur für Studiengänge der Ingenieurwissenschaften, der Informatik, der Naturwissenschaften und der Mathematik)

http://www.asiin.de/english/newdesign/index_ex5.html

ASIIN is a non-profit, registered association and has been accredited by the German Accreditation Council (Akkreditierungsrat) since December 12, 2002.

Requirements and procedural principles applied by ASIIN are described in details in: http://www.asiin.de/english/download/ASIIN_Requirements-Procedures_2008-03-28.pdf

And

http://www.asiin.de/english/download/guide.pdf

CTI and ASIIN address the Bachelor and Master programs only.

2.3.5 ENQA (the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education)

http://www.enqa.eu/

The European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education was established in 2000 to promote European co-operation in the field of quality assurance. In November 2004 the General Assembly transformed the Network into the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA). The idea for the association originates from the European Pilot Project for Evaluating Quality in Higher Education (1994-95) which demonstrated the value of sharing and developing experience in the area of quality assurance. Subsequently, the idea was given momentum by the Recommendation of the Council (98/561/EC of 24 September 1998) (pdf) on European co-operation in quality assurance in higher education and by the Bologna Declaration of 1999. The European Commission has, through grant support, financed the activities of ENQA since the very beginning.

ENQA disseminates information, experiences and good practices in the field of quality assurance (QA) in higher education to European QA agencies, public authorities and higher education institutions.

ENQA has published, in the framework of the EC DG-Education and Culture, a brochure entitled “Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area”:

http://www.enqa.eu/files/ESG_3edition%20%282%29.pdf

2.3.6 EUA-CDE (European University Association COUNCIL FOR DOCTORAL EDUCATION)

http://www.eua.be/cde/Home.aspx

EUA-CDE was established in 2008. It creates a strong voice for European universities on doctoral education both inside Europe and internationally and contributes to enhancing the visibility of doctoral/graduate/research schools and programs.

It builds on the outcomes of EUA’s policy and project work on doctoral education and research careers, and seeks to respond to growing demand from members for a more structured supporting framework and additional opportunities to promote cooperation and exchange of good practice on issues of common concern related to the organization and quality of doctoral education in universities across Europe.

Brochures with recommendations on doctoral education can be downloaded at:

http://www.eua.be/cde/publications.aspx

2.3.7 The European Qualifications Framework (EQF)

European Commission - Education & Training

http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc44_en.htm

The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) acts as a translation device to make national qualifications more readable across Europe, promoting workers' and learners' mobility between countries and facilitating their lifelong learning.

The core of the EQF concerns eight reference levels describing what a learner knows, understands and is able to do – 'learning outcomes'. These reference levels have been agreed by the ministers of higher education at their meeting in Bergen in May 2005.They are described in the official EC document accessible at:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:111:0001:0007:EN:PDF

Level 8, corresponding to Doctoral Studies, is characterized by the following Learning Outcomes (based on teacher’s qualification):

Knowledge

“knowledge at the most advanced frontier of a field of work or study and at the interface between fields”

Skills

“the most advanced and specialized skills and techniques, including synthesis and evaluation, required to solve critical problems in research and/or innovation and to extend and redefine existing knowledge or professional practice”