Challenges for QA in the Western Balkan Region

“Challenges for QA in the Western Balkan Region“ Ljubljana, 9 March 2015. IVAN LEBAN SLOVENIAN QUALITY ASSURANCE AGENCY for HIGHER EDUCATION (SQAA/NAKVIS) ivanleban 47@gmail. com @ivanleban Director SQAA

CV 67 yrs old, 42 yrs working age Degree in Chemistry at Univ. of Ljubljana, 1971 D. Phil. Deg. at University of York, England, 1974 Married, wife + 3 daughters, Crystallographer, Chemist, Freelance Journalist, Working partially at TV, ranking 5 th in Chemistry in SLO. Vice-Rector of University of Ljubljana, 2001 -2005 Director of SQAA (www. nakvis. si ) Vice-President of CEENQA (www. ceenqa. eu) Member of ECA Board (www. ecahe. eu)

What I am doing now ? Quality cycle !

QUALITY IN HE – member of expert pool of EUA IEP from 2006 Institutional Evaluation of universities Turkey Romania Montenegro Croatia Lithuania Latvia Portugal Kazahstan Macedonia

OUR HIGHER EDUCATION AREA - 2014 Study year 2013/14 Higher education High vocational education Tertiary education 79. 331 students 13. 251 students Slovenia – 2 milion inhabitants 5 universities ( 3 state, 1 private, 1 network EMUNI), 42 HEIs (independent) – mainly private, 43 Higher vocational colleges, but rather large number of accredited study programmes (938) and only 3501 FTE HE teachers

Slovenian HE Area is monitored by SQAA - in 2013 – we gain membership in European register of trustworthy agencies (EQAR) www. eqar. eu

WHY AGENCY in Slovenia? The Agency was established by law in 2010 as a national organisation for quality assurance in HE and is comparable with other European quality assurance agencies. It operates in accordance with European standards and guidelines (Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area - ESG). It is independent, financed directly from state budget. It operates with the aims to: - have full independence from various stakeholders (HEIs, government, politics, political parties) - continuously monitor the quality of HEIs - create quality culture within HEIs; - profesionalize quality assessment in the HE area; - function in accordance with the ESG, impartially, legally and politically neutral;

AGENCY’s ACTIVITIES are legally controlled regulated by the Higher Education Act (Arts. 32 through 42 and 51 e through 51ž) and Procedures are conducted according to the General Administ. Procedure Act - oversee the functioning of the quality assurance system in higher education and post-secondary professional education in SI, - determine PROCEDURES AND CRITERIA FOR EXTERNAL EVALUATIONS AND ACCREDITATIONS, as well as other criteria and regulations, - determine the minimum criteria for election to titles of higher education teachers, scientific workers and higher education staff at higher education institutions, - carry out external evaluations of higher education institutions and study programmes, and of higher vocational colleges, - carry out accreditations and reaccreditations of higher education institutions and study programmes, - issue consents to the transformation of higher education institutions and to modifications of compulsory elements of study programmes of independent higher education institutions, - appoint expert groups for external evaluations and accreditations, organise their training and participate in it, - establish and update the register of experts, - publish all final decisions of the Agency Council, evaluation reports, annual evaluation and accreditation reports and analyses of the Agency,

AGENCY’s ACTIVITIES (continued) (as in Article 51. f of Lo. HE) - keep publicly accessible records of accredited higher education institutions and study programmes, - cooperate with higher education institutions and higher vocational colleges, advise them and promote the implementation of self-evaluations, - cooperate with international institutions or bodies for quality assurance in higher education, - oversee the conformity of the Agency's operation with EU guidelines and international principles in the field of quality assurance, - collect and analyse reports on self-evaluations and external evaluations of higher education institutions and higher vocational colleges, - perform development tasks in the fields for which the Agency has been established, -perform other tasks in accordance with the Higher Education Act and the memorandum of association - performance is evaluated by ENQA and EQAR (National Master Plan for Higher Education 2011 -2020)

SQAA encourages the quality of higher education Mission SQAA takes care for the development and functioning of the quality assurance system in higher education in Slovenia. It operates responsibly in terms of form and contents and counsels all stakeholders and participants in tertiary education in line with the European and global directions of development. Vision SQAA shall, with its system of quality assurance development, contribute to the higher education in Slovenia being of high quality in terms of education and research, internationally recognisable, competitive and equally integrated in the global higher education area.

154 SQAA trained experts in the register 22 employees

DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGY FOR “E-LEARNING” COMPUTER Jaquard 1752 -1834 weaving loom Babbage 1792 -1871 mechanical machine Mark 1 UMIST 1948 electronic computer Diode, transistor, silicon chip Memory media: punched paper tape, cards, magnetic tape, floppy disk, cd Calculator 1970 HP CCD detector 1975 Sinclair Spectrum 1980 PC 1985 Internet (ARPANET, 1969; TCP/IP global - 1989– 2010) Mobile telephony 1999 TELEVISION B & W 1926 (moving picture) Colour 1970

THREE BOLOGNA CONCEPTS - Student centred learning - Research oriented - Service to society And this incorporates Distance and e-Learning into category of FLEXIBLE AND DISTRIBUTED LEARNING

FLEXIBLE AND DISTRIBUTED LEARNING (taken from Policy and Guidance - QAA). Teaching, learning and assessment is such that: - do not require a student's place of study to be physically located within the institution (the awarding institution) whose academic award is being sought through successful completion of the programme of study; - do not assume that a student's programme of study is necessarily delivered directly by the awarding institution; - do not assume that a student is necessarily directly supported by staff of the awarding institution; - do not assume that a student is routinely working with other students; - do not necessarily require assessment of a student's achievement to take place at the location of the awarding institution.

FLEXIBLE AND DISTRIBUTED LEARNING may include programmes which include considerable elements of distance learning (learning from home or ‘selfstudy’) and may include learning that uses digital materials and/or communication with tutors by email (elearning). FDL includes courses that may be delivered directly by the University or wholly or partly through collaborators. FDL encompasses a range of learning methodologies on the extent to which the student learns: - through face-to-face teaching/supervision, or through digital materials and communication - largely alone, or with a group of learners - at home (‘distance learning’), or on site at the University

SITUATION IN SLOVENIA Flexible and distributed learning is not regulated in the Slovenian Higher Education Law. FDL is neither regulated in the Criteria of accreditations and external evaluations established at SQAA. However, SQAA has internal instructions for our experts for external evaluations . . . They are contained in the Manual for experts of SQAA at . . .

MANUAL FOR EXPERTS OF SQAA on web page http: //test. nakvis. si/en-GB/Content/Details/9 in a special chapter Assessment of distance learning pp. 48 -50. Experts of SQAA should pay special attention to the following:

– Are the concept and the system of distance learning consistent with mission, vision and strategy of the institution? Is distance learning appropriately planned, organised and monitored? Does the institution/college offer assistance to students or does it train them for such a way of study? – Are higher education teachers and college lecturers (hereinafter: lecturers of subjects and learning units) qualified for such a way of work? What about other support staff? Is the work of lecturers and other staff at the institution/college permanently monitored? What measures are taken if it is established that their work is not of adequate quality? – Are the activities of students prescribed in advance by a plan for the implementation of a subject or a learning unit? By who is it prepared? Is the plan constantly monitored, assessed and evaluated?

– Which contents or parts of curriculum are appropriate for e-learning (e. g. lectures, etc. ) and which parts may in no circumstances be carried out in such a way (e. g. laboratory exercises, etc. )? – Does the institution/college also provide premises for e-learning where knowledge examination and other usual study and extracurricular activities may take place? – Who monitors the work of students? – The system of knowledge testing and assessing along with prevention of frauds is of great importance. Is verification of acquired competences of e-learning students or their comparability with competences of students who acquired these competences in a “classic” way ensured? Is authorship in seminar and diploma theses verified by special software and how is authenticity of texts ascertained? Does oral examination take place through video conferences or at the institution? Is written examination carried out in a way that frauds are prevented? Is legal protection provided and is the methodology for plagiarism detection and prevention as well as for identification of authorship appropriate?

– How is identity of a student who takes a distance examination ensured and who verifies it? Who is responsible for the objectivity of knowledge assessment? Who decides whether distance tests will be carried out and how is it substantiated? Who takes measures and in what way in cases of eventual irregularities or abuses? – What measures are taken if it is established that e-learning is inefficient or of inadequate quality?

E-learning is quite common in the Slovenian education area. Many institutions/colleges use it to supplement classical way of study, which is called blended learning by the profession. In this way study, the following should also be verified: – Does the computer equipment enable students undisturbed studying and possibilities for connecting: chat rooms, forums, team work, interactive examination of knowledge, video conference lectures and practice, simulations, etc. Are learning materials appropriate and who prepares them? – Is the capacity of equipment sufficient for the implementation of elearning? How fast and successful is elimination of errors? – Are other services available to students in virtual learning environment (verification of study progress, etc. )?

Do tutors also frequently participate in e-learning apart from lecturers of subjects or learning units? In such cases, the following needs to be established: – Who provides technical assistance (in communication and information exchange), who is a tutor and who is the lecturer? – The applicant must prove that the tasks are clearly divided between the lecturer and the tutor. Pedagogical work must be carried out by the lecturer. Experts verify whether the lecturers are habilitated in relevant areas, whether they are qualified for such a way of work (e. g. : use of applications in virtual learning environment) and whether they permanently cooperate with students, whether they are active in their pedagogical and also in their professional, scientific-research and/or artistic work. – By who and in what way is the activity of students in virtual learning environment monitored? Software for e-learning usually enables extensive statistical analyses of the activities of users - in doing this, are the rights of individuals observed, if inappropriate collection or use of data takes place?

Note again: Distance learning is not specifically regulated in Slovenia. Implementation of distance learning is the responsibility of a higher education institution (article 6 of HE Act – act on autonomy) and a higher vocational college (ZVSI). Such learning is already relatively common in higher vocational education. And in discovering inconsistencies, experts are asked to consult with Agency staff. Therefore: FDL should be regulated by HE Act and included in the Criteria for evaluation and accreditation. It is also valid for FDL: The quality is doing right when nobody is looking (H. Ford)

And last message on the subject: Feb. 12, 2015 5: 48 PM ET Harvard, MIT sued over lack of closed captioning online CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Advocates for the deaf sued Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Thursday, saying the universities failed to provide closed captioning for online courses, podcasts and other educational programs. The National Association for the Deaf filed class action lawsuits in federal court, saying Harvard and MIT discriminated against the hearing impaired and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The association said much of Harvard's and MIT's online content was not captioned, was inaccurately captioned or was unintelligibly captioned, making it inaccessible. "Just as buildings without ramps bar people who use wheelchairs, online content without captions excludes individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, " said the lawsuit against Harvard, which is similar to the one against MIT. Officials at Harvard and MIT, both based in Cambridge, said they're committed to making their courses and online materials accessible to everyone.