ESIB statement on institutional Quality Assurance

Institutional Quality Assurance and Evaluation has been going on for many years in
several European countries and institutionsand has been increasing. Given the
emerging discussion about institutional quality assurance at the European level, ESIB
is stressing the following principles.

The need for institutional quality assurance and the development of a quality culture
in European higher education institutions

Focus on institutional level is becoming more and more important in the
development of strategies for quality assurance in Higher Education. As for the
emerging discussion about institutional quality assurance, ESIB feels the necessity to
first engage in a discussion at institutional level about the goals and missions of each
higher education institution in the increasingly diverse landscape of higher education.

The increase in participation of higher education, the diversification of the student
population and the changing demand for Higher Education within a context of lifelong
learning bring about HEIs with different profiles and missions which need to be
clearly defined within the institution.

In this approach there is a need to develop institutional and internal quality
assurance mechanisms in the framework of a “fitness for purpose” approach to
measure and assess whether the institutions are fulfilling the missions they have
defined for themselves. The development of sound internal and institutional quality
assurance mechanisms plays a key role in that assessment. With a framework for
institutional quality assurance in place, HEIs will also be better empowered to meet
the challenges posed by societal change and the development of knowledge based
economy and society.

The ultimate goal of institutional quality assurance is to develop an internal quality
culture, which ensures that quality is a focus of the institution at all levels and is
incorporated in the everyday work of the university management, staff, students,
professors and teachers.

The development of such frameworks should be seen complimentary to external and
programme quality assurance, which could include accreditation. 1) The existence
and implementation of institutional and internal mechanisms of quality assurance can
also be used as criteria for external reviews. Institutional quality assurance cannot
substitute programme quality assurance.

ESIB considers institutional quality assurance primarily as a responsibility of the
higher education institutions. The first step of the process has to be the definition of
goals and missions by the decision making bodies at institutional and faculty level.

Internal quality assurance bodies consisting of professors, teachers, staff and
students need to be set up at all levels afterwards to carry out the internal quality
assurance work. A coordinating body, comprising the university leadership, teachers,
staff and student representatives should be set up at the institutional level to
monitor these processes and comprise the missions and goals into a cohesive
institutional strategy. This body should be accountable to the decision-making bodies
and the university management to ensure that necessary steps are taken and the
process is carried out in a continuous manner to reach the goals of the institution. All
results and outcomes of the quality assurance process must be made public and
especially accessible to students.

At the regional, national and international level, ESIB believes there is a need for
cooperation and exchange of best practice in institutional quality assurance. This will
ensure that each institution has the best possible opportunity to develop tools for
implementing quality assurance mechanisms in its institutional context.

ESIB commits itself to co-operate with its partners at the European level, namely the
European University Association (EUA), the European Network on Quality Assurance
in Higher Education (ENQA), the European Trade Union Committee on Education
(ETUCE)/Education International (EI) and the European Commission, to foster the
process and contribute to the development of institutional quality assurance
mechanisms to improve the quality of higher education for all students studying in
Europe.