Survey of Self-Evaluation and External Evaluation of Member Institutions
6
GLOMET
An IAMU Project
QUESTIONNAIRE 2
Survey of self-evaluation and external evaluation of member institutions
This questionnaire is used for obtaining information on the maintenance and improvement of MET standards at your institution by a Quality Assurance System. Questions in it are on assurance and enhancement of MET quality by institutional arrangements and external audits.
Quality in the context of this questionnaire is defined as “fitness for purpose”. “..... it implies that whether or not quality is being delivered can only be determined if the purpose to which effort is being directed is clearly defined” (Sir Frederick Crawford: Total Quality Management, December 1991, CVPC Occasional Paper).
For further clarification, another definition of quality assurance by the British Quality Assurance Agency in Higher Education is offered that summarizes the elements of a Quality Assurance System: “The totality of systems, resources and information devoted to maintaining and improving the quality of standards of teaching, scholarship and research, and the students’ learning experience”. Quality Assurance Agency in Higher Education: (Quality Assurance in UK Higher Education. A brief guide. 1998. ISBN 85824 397 1)
Please reply either yes or no to the questions if not otherwise requested.
Do not hesitate to ask for clarification if you would like to receive further explanation of a question.
Please fill in the questionnaire by typing in the requested answers and return it by e-mail before 30 April 2004 to <>
It should not take longer than half an hour to fill in this questionnaire.
Self-Evaluation
Institutional arrangements for quality assurance and quality enhancement
There exists a considerable variety of institutional arrangements for assuring and enhancing the quality of MET offers.
The following questions will concentrate on core elements of these arrangements, i.e. the provisions made, the methods used and the persons involved.
The questionnaire deals with institutional efforts to assure and enhance MET quality but not with individual efforts.
It is however taken for granted that all colleagues in the teaching (and research) faculty at IAMU member institutions make continuous efforts to improve content and delivery of their teaching programmes by keeping themselves up-to-date in their area of expertise and using the most effective teaching methods, respectively.
It is also taken for granted that the authority in your country which supervises the meeting of STCW Convention requirements at MET institutions has, in accordance with Regulation I/8 of the Convention on Quality Standards, already implemented an appropriate Quality Standards System, and that your institution has contributed its share to meeting this requirement.
1 – 6 Questions on provisions made:
1 When the revised STCW Convention was adopted in 1995, did you then already have a Quality Assurance System in place that you could adapt to the Quality Standards System required by STCW? _____
:
2 Do you use today a Quality Assurance System that covers both the STCW and the non-STCW requirements (i.e. the academic degree requirements) which your institution is expected to meet? _____
If your answer is no:
Do you use a separate Quality Assurance System for the academic degree requirements?_____
3 Did you use the ISO 9000 series as reference for your Quality Assurance System?_____
If your answer is no:
Did you use as reference a Quality Assurance System that is also used at other universities in your country?_____
If your answer is no:
Did you use as reference an established international recognized Quality Assurance System (other than the ISO 9000 series)?_____
If your answer is yes then please name this established international recognized Quality Assurance System:______
Do you have written and agreed specifications of the following elements of a Quality Assurance System at your institution available in writing?
4 Information for prospective students on:
· available offer of academic programmes_____
· admission requirements and procedures _____
· possible financial support arrangements _____
5 Information for students on:
· details of study programmes_____
· number, form and time of assessments_____
· if yes: is the appeals procedure included in/attached to the information on assessments?_____
· procedure for lodging complaints_____
· available student support services_____
· student involvement in quality assurance_____
6 Information for teaching staff on:
· evaluation of study programmes_____
· student assessment_____
· evaluation of teaching methods_____
· approval procedure for new programmes_____
· staff appointment_____
· staff development_____
· staff appraisal_____
7 Questions on methods used:
In addition to standard methods used in connection with a Quality Assurance System, did you ever use a SWOT analysis for identifying the Strengths and Weaknesses of your institution and examining the Opportunities and Threats which your institution faces? _____
If you would like to learn more about SWOT analysis then please see <http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCM_05.htm>
Do you use another method/other methods than those in connection with a Quality Assurance System and SWOT analysis, if applicable, for evaluating how well you are meeting your institution’s Mission and Goals Statement and the commitment priorities which you have indicated by your answers to question 7 (on the MET philosophy of your institution) in the previous questionnaire 1? _____
If your answer is yes:
Is this other method/are these other methods also used at other universities in your country? _____
Do you work with plans with specific objectives which your institution wants to meet during a period of a given number of years? _____
8 Questions on staff involved:
It is taken for granted that you have a committee dealing with the assurance of quality and the improvement of standards. This Committee is in the following referred to as Quality Assurance Committee.
Composition of Quality Assurance Committee:
It is taken for granted that teaching staff is represented on this Committee.
Are there also student members on the Quality Assurance Committee? _____
Besides teaching staff and, possibly, students are there other members on the Quality Assurance Committee?_____
If the answer is yes, then please name the other category/categories of university staff represented on the Quality AssurancCommittee______
How is the proportion (in numbers or percentages) between the different groups?
teaching staff : students : others = _____ : _____ : _____
External Evaluation
External examining and external reviewing
You may recall question 6 of the previous questionnaire 1 on Supervising Authority/Authorities and Examinations and will agree that governmental supervision plays an important role in assuring the meeting of minimum requirements of the STCW-based and the degree-related MET programmes at your institution. You did already answer in questionnaire 1 the question on the participation of the governmental authority’s/authorities’ representatives in examinations at your institution.
External Examiners
The following questions relate to a different type of “external examiner” than the one representing a supervising authority. This non-government-related External Examiner is a colleague from another university where similar MET programmes are offered as at your institution. This colleague participates in your institution’s student assessment process.
“The main purposes of external examining are to verify that standards are appropriate for the award or the award elements which the external examiner has been appointed to examine, to assist institutions in the comparison of academic standards across higher education awards and award elements, and ensure that their assessment processes are fair and are fairly operated and are in line with the institution’s regulations” (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education: Code of practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education; Section 4: External Examining, January 2000; p 4. ISBN 1 85824 468 4).
9 Questions on external examiners:
Do you use external examiners at your institution? _____
If your answer is yes: Since when do you use external examiners? Please give the year: _____
How many external examiners are involved in your institution’s MET programme at any time? Please give number: _____
Do your external examiners serve for a limited number of years? _____
If your answer is yes: please give the number of years: _____
How often do reviews by external examiners take place per year?_____
Who receives the external examiners reports?
The President?_____
The Dean(s)?_____
Other teaching staff in senior positions?_____
Students?_____
Others staff categories inside the university?_____
If the answer is yes, then please name the staff category/categories besides those mentioned
above:______
Do members of your faculty act as external examiners at other universities? _____
External Academic Reviews
External reviews (which are conducted by external reviewers) extend beyond external examining and deal with the entire institution.
“Academic reviewers are concerned with the institution’s subjects standards both set and achieved over a period of years, and national (and international – GZ) reference points such as subject benchmarks and levels of awards, and also with the match between the intended learning outcomes and the actual achievements of students.” (ibid, p 19).
10 Questions on external reviews:
Has your institution ever had an academic review? _____
If your answer is yes:
When did your institution last have an external academic review? Please give year: _____
Was this review limited to STCW certificate of competency requirements? _____
If your answer is yes: Who conducted the review? Please give name of organization:
______
Did you have another review that dealt with academic degree requirements? _____
If your answer is yes: Who conducted the review? Please give name of organization:
Did you have a review that covered both certificates of competency and academic degree requirements? _____
If your answer is yes: Who conducted the review? Please give name of organisation: ______
11 Questions on ranking:
Do you have a formal national ranking system for universities in your country?_____
If your answer is yes:
Was your institution ever included in this national ranking of universities? _____
If your answer is yes:
Which criteria were used for the ranking? Please indicate the criteria which were applied:
Quality of academic programmes _____
Quality of teaching (and research) staff _____
Quality and amount of research _____
Student satisfaction _____
Other ______
12 Questions on peer reviews:
Was your institution ever reviewed by colleagues from other universities?_____
If your answer is no:
What is your opinion on peer review, i.e. the academic review of your institution by colleagues of other universities and your participation in such a review at other universities?
I would take advantage of a peer review for my institution if it would be available. _____
I would participate in peer reviews at other institutions and would expect some of my colleagues to participate too. _____
Please return the completed questionnaire to me by e-mail (<>) by 30 April 2004 latest.
Thank you for your cooperation
Guenther Zade