Developing Quality Assessment

Abstract

Quality has become a central part of academic discourse evaluating teaching and research. One of the action lines of the Bologna Process from its beginning has been co-operation in quality assurance; culminating when in 2005 the Bergen Bologna Follow-up Conference adopted “Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area”, presenting a detailed programme for quality assurance in higher education, including teaching. For instance, universities should monitor the progress of students, they should measure learning outcomes and they should acquire feedback from employers. As to teaching, students should be assessed using published criteria with clear marking procedures. Besides, the assessment of students should not rely on the judgements of single examiners. The guidelines emphasise also evaluation of teaching by students and students’ satisfaction with their programmes. This focus on teaching created a demand for instructional development and the need for pedagogical training for university teachers. In many countries, pedagogical training is becoming a requirement for entering the academic profession. However, in some countries, teaching experience or even pedagogical methods still are not even part of the selection criteria for becoming a university instructor. The panel invites both theoretical and empirical papers on quality assessment of political science teaching programmes and practices. How much do the Bologna standards guide teaching, should they guide it, can they guide it? Are the standards applicable to political science? We are interested in analyses of existing programmes, as well as experiences of teaching in the classroom. How are courses organised in different universities? How are students assessed? However, as quality itself, as well as the construction of any quality evaluation system or method, is a problematical issue, the guiding problem of the panel is simply: what is quality in teaching political science and (how) can it be evaluated?

Title	Details
For a European Teaching Quality Assurance System for Political Studies?	View Paper Details
ENQA's Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area: An Evaluation	View Paper Details
Between Formalisation and Standardisation: The Changing Role of the Board of Examiners in Assuring Quality of Assessment	View Paper Details