SMART-QUAL: Structured indicators to manage HEI Quality System Erasmus Project

Project Title

SMART-QUAL: Structured indicators to manage HEI Quality System

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality Assurance; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); Recognition, transparency, certification

Project Summary

Internal Quality Management System in Higher Education is criticised as being too-process oriented, box-ticking and insufficiently focused on consequential and generalisable outcomes because of the high quantity of indicators involved, which complicates the indicators’ accurate and timely analysis, and consequently their adequate use for decision-making at different levels (strategic, tactical or operational). In 2015, the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) were revised (first version in 2005) and approved. Although not being mandatory or prescriptive, the set of standards and guidelines in Part 1 of the ESG contribute to ensure that the Internal Quality Management Systems (QMS) of HEIs in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) adhere to the same set of principles and that the processes and procedures implemented are modelled to fit the purposes and requirements of their contexts. In 2018, the ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) published in 2018 a new standard entitled “Educational Organisation Management Systems”, providing criteria for the alignment of the HEIs’ internal QM systems to the world-known ISO 9001 standard.

In this context, the SMART-QUAL project addresses some existing important needs:

· Lack of a comprehensive framework of harmonised quality indicators and benchmarks.
· Lack of internal QM systems’ evaluation process by quality assurance agencies, based on common criteria and indicators, which translates in efforts of HEIs to implement internal QM systems not being officially recognised.

– The main objective of the SMART-QUAL is to support HEIs in the implementation of effective internal QM system by designing a set of quality indicators to be implemented and improve in the short and long term the internal QM systems (make them more efficient and effective) and the alignment of these indicators in a structured catalogue according to the three main levels of decision making (strategic, tactical and operational).

– The consortium: a balanced international partnership formed by UMinho University (Portugal) Conexx-Europe (Belgium), Aveiro University (Portugal), A3ES Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (Portugal), Politecnico di Torino (Italy), Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (Spain), AQU The Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (Spain), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) and Studiju Kokybes Vertinimo Centras (Lithuania), will work together to impact all over Europe and ensure the project’s long term sustainability and broad dissemination.

– The target groups the projects aims to impact includes management boards, administrative staff, professors, researchers of HEIs and quality agencies. Furthermore, the project targets other stakeholders involved in the quality management systems and final beneficiary groups as the students benefiting from a more efficient QM system that will impact their education and as the societies, this HEIs interact with.

– SMART-QUAL will apply stakeholder surveys, desk research and comparative analysis incompetence and training analysis, and participatory product development and observation in the development of the results and provided online tools.

– The structure of the main outcomes of the project will be:

IO1: Creation of a new and replicable Quality Indicators Scoreboard (QIS) and a Smart-Qual Wiki
containing all the findings of the IO1.
IO1-A1: State-of-the-art of the quality management system of higher education institutions.
IO1-A2: Literature review on quality indicators and quality management systems
IO1-A3 Harmonisation of the indicators and creation of the Quality Indicators Scoreboard
IO1-A4 Creation of the SMART-QUAL Wiki
IO2: Guidelines to support the QIS practical implementation in the HEIs
IO2-A1 Contacting relevant stakeholders
IO2-A2 Designing the structure of the guidelines
IO2-A3 Content production
IO2-A4 Testing of the new system and peer review
IO2-A5 Graphic design of the guide

– One LTTA is foreseen to be implemented in order to support universities in the practical implementation of the new QIS. During this event, members of the project and staff members working in the field of Quality in HEIs or researching this topic will acquire more knowledge on the project’s subject and will work together on the development of the structure and content of the Guide on the practical implementation of the QIS.

– 1 Multiplier Events will take place with the aim of gathering the local, national and European and international stakeholders and disseminate the project’s results at different levels, widen its impact by fostering the implementation of the new IQS and the use of the SMART-QUAL wiki, as well as building strong networks to further develop the project’s improvements in the Quality Assurance systems and exploit SMART-QUAL’s results.

Project Website

http://smartqual.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 187213 Eur

Project Coordinator

CONEXX – EUROPE ASBL & Country: BE

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITAT INTERNACIONAL DE CATALUNYA
• STUDIJU KOKYBES VERTINIMO CENTRAS
• UNIVERSIDADE DE AVEIRO
• UNIVERSIDADE DO MINHO
• POLITECNICO DI TORINO
• AGENCIA DE AVALIACAO E ACREDITACAO DO ENSINO SUPERIOR
• AGENCIA PER A LA QUALITAT DEL SISTEMA UNIVERSITARI DE CATALUNYA