TIIT LAASBERG

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EVALUATION OF ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES

• TIIT LAASBERG

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QUALITY ASSESSMENT CENTER

• Founded on September 1, 1997, by the Estonian
  Ministry of Education
• Legally a part of the Archimedes Foundation
• Funded by the state
• Arranges accreditation of universities and their
  curricula in the country

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Experts (103) by countries in 2006
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Accreditations of study programmes (203) in 2006
by 25 expert groups, visited 21 HEI
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Accreditations of study programmes (1065) 1997
2006
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Cost of the accreditation

• One expert per one week
• - salary 1150 EUR
• - travel 600 EUR
• - accomodation 400 EUR
• - other 100 EUR
• 2250 EUR
• Four experts per one week
• 9000 EUR

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COMMENTS OF EXPERTS

• Experts from different fields have made almost
  the same general comments about Estonian higher
  education

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CURRICULA

• Too intense, no time left for individual work
• Principles for the compilation of curricula
  require revision, they are currently based on
  traditions, ad hoc decisions
• BA, MA and PhD curricula are not always
  sufficiently interrelated
• Not enough research to support teaching

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ORGANIZING STUDIES

• Too many small volume subjects
• Not enough credit points have been given for
  research
• Number of students withdrawing, mostly
  non-academic reasons, is too high

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STUDY PROCESS

• Too much emphasizes on lectures, focusing on the
  knowledge based on facts
• Number of lectures and study load is too heavy

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TEACHING STAFF

• Shortage of young academics
• Insufficient number of high-level publications

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RESOURCES

• Laboratories need modern equipment
• Libraries need more study material, especially
  scholarly and scientific journals

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QUALITY ASSURANCE AND FEEDBACK

• Internal QA system has to be improved in HEI
• Poor contacts with graduates
• Small number of alumni organizations

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COMPILATION OF SELF-ANALYSIS REPORTS

• Requires improvement self-evaluation report
  should be based on the SWOT analysis - strengths
  and projected remedies of the areas analyzed by
  universities would be clearly outlined

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AFTER THE ACCREDITATION

• Teaching methods have been changed
• Universities have updated their libraries,
  equipped computer classes, etc
• A process for regular self-assessment has been
  developed (SWOT analyzes)
• Expert reports have been used in writing
  universities development plan

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BENEFITS OF HE

• Accreditation process was carried out only
• by international experts
• 32 system together with accreditation
• woke up Estonian HEI

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BENEFITS OF HE

• International relations have helped to improve
  the quality of Estonian higher education
  (students and teaching staff exchanges),
  implementing one the main aims of Bologna
  declaration
• Accreditation results have been helpful for
  students to decide where to continue their
  studies. Accreditation results can be easily
  found from the internet

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The most common remarks made by experts about the
accreditation process in Estonia in 2006-2007

• The guidelines and materials regarding the
  accreditation process, which are received by
  experts prior to the evaluation event, are quite
  adequate
• Eventhough most self-evaluation reports contain
  all the necessary information, their quality
  varies significantly (some are excellent, some
  very poor) the quality is different even within
  the same university. It should be noted that
  poorly compiled reports may influence the results
  of the accreditation decision, and therefore the
  importance of well-compiled self-evaluation
  reports should be broght to the attention of
  HEI-s

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The most common remarks made by experts about the
accreditation process in Estonia in 2006-2007

• Regarding the site visits to HEI-s the time
  schedule is often very tight and it is often not
  enough to have only one day for a visit to an
  institution
• The work that experts are expected to do and the
  fees paid are not in proper balance
• It has been expressed that external experts shoud
  rather focus on quality assessment regarding the
  level of scientific research, curricula
  development or study process, which are universal
  and internationally assessible.

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The most common remarks made by experts about the
accreditation process in Estonia in 2006-2007

• Expert teams have been satisfied with the work of
  the Accreditation Centre in organising the
  accreditation process, and have found it to be
  very supportive, helpful, and flexible.