THEQC Organizes Meeting on Internal QA System in HEIs and QA in Education
THEQC Organizes Meeting on Internal QA System in HEIs and QA in Education
On November 27-28, 2018, the THEQC organized a two-day meeting on the establishment of an internal quality assurance system in higher education institutions and quality processes in education. The meeting was attended by around 450 people from higher education institutions and national accreditation agencies, including university rectors, vice rectors, representatives of universities’ quality committees, THEQC President Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Elmas, THEQC Acting Vice President Prof. Dr. Sibel Aksu Yıldırım and THEQC members.
During the meeting, THEQC President Elmas delivered a keynote speech in which he elaborated on the significance of establishing an internal quality assurance system in higher education institutions and fostering a quality assurance culture. Following Elmas’ speech, THEQC Acting Vice President Sibel Aksu Yıldırım gave a speech that presented information on quality processes in education, the educational indicators in the 2017 Higher Education Evaluation and Quality Assurance Position Report, the educational criteria stated in the THEQC Institutional Evaluation Program and made suggestions for higher education institutions. In following sessions, representatives of Bilkent University, Ege University, Hacettepe University and Istanbul Technical University made presentations on application examples regarding the quality assurance approaches applied in undergraduate and graduate programs.
In his speech, THEQC President Elmas remarked:
‘To create an internal quality assurance system in education systems, program designs must be continuously monitored and updated, programs must be aligned with student-centered teaching and learning, and students must be equipped with required knowledge and skills. Other major requirements include enabling dynamism in academic staff of higher education institutions, providing the physical conditions necessary for learning, increasing the quality and quantity of R&D outputs and establishing digitalized agile management systems, whereas the most crucial step is to ensure continuous enhancement by closely monitoring the performances displayed throughout all these processes.’
‘In curriculum design, the primary considerations must be equipping students with a set of skills such as solving complex problems, critical thinking, creativity and agile management. In all the programs they offer, higher education institutions must make sure that their students acquire core competencies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics alongside the knowledge required for their field of study.’
‘Furthermore, new technological advancements and new media tools must be integrated into education systems, while conventional teaching and learning methods must be replaced with digitalized field-specific learning methods in classes. Our primary goal is to establish a system that will guarantee that higher education institutions produce more qualified and versatile graduates.’
‘The process of fostering a quality culture in higher education institutions led to considerable changes. The main criteria needed for change include clarity, simplicity, focus and accountability. With the Institutional Evaluation Program, the Higher Education Quality Council evaluates the outputs of these criteria to establish a quality assurance system and culture in higher education institutions.’
In her presentation entitled ‘Quality Assurance in Education’, THEQC Acting Vice President Prof. Dr. Sibel Aksu Yıldırım said: ‘According to the 2017 Higher Education Quality Council Position Report, THEQC evaluated 50 higher education institutions, including 41 state and 9 foundation universities, as part of the institutional evaluation program in 2017. A total of 50 evaluation teams and 269 evaluators paid site visits to the evaluated institutions. The 2017 Position Report was written and published in view of these evaluations. The report suggests that program accreditation, one of the most significant aspects of education systems, increased in 2017 compared to the previous year. Other important factors such as active student participation in the processes and formation of graduate tracking systems were designated as the main points open to improvement in higher education institutions. The most significant feature of quality assurance system in higher education institutions is guaranteeing that the students enrolled in study programs could acquire the targeted competencies. So, higher education institutions must promote and disseminate program accreditation processes, which constitute a substantial instrument in education systems. It is also required to ensure active student participation in the processes and create a graduate tracking system.’
“While establishing internal quality systems in education systems, higher education institutions must map out a route in consideration of the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) Cycle, and update their education policies and processes, academic programs, and teaching and assessing methods. Students are required to acquire core competencies both in their fields of study and other fields with applied education models that focus on students and learning. Also, the advising system must be revised and improved while success of students and learning outcomes must be continuously monitored. To that end, student satisfaction surveys, and evaluations of peers, instructors, graduates and employers must be conducted.”
Subsequently, THEQC Advisor Prof. Dr. Ümit Kocabıçak made a presentation entitled ‘Information Management System in Quality Processes’, during which he stressed the importance of creating integrated information systems for the establishment of quality assurance systems in education, adding that the university management system must encompass all the relevant processes and stakeholders and be designed in a way to enable data exchange. He went on to state that the management system must also be designed in line with the notion of accreditation and quality that represents the institutional identity, expressing that universities will be supported on the subject.
Following the speeches on quality assurance in education and information management systems in quality processes in higher education, three panels moderated by Prof. Dr. Aslıhan Nasır, Prof. Dr. Tuğba Yanpar Yelken and Prof. Dr. Sina Ercan were held. During the panels, presentations were made on the applied models of education systems and quality processes and the information management systems employed in higher education institutions. Prof. Dr. Özgür Ulusoy from Bilkent University, Prof. Dr. Canan Fisun Abay from Ege University and Assoc. Prof. Ebru Dülekgürgen from Istanbul Technical University shared application examples from undergraduate programs while Prof. Dr. Diclehan Orhan from Hacettepe University shared an application example from graduate education.
At the end of the meeting, the questions posed by the participants were answered by THEQC President Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Elmas, THEQC Acting Vice President Prof. Dr. Sibel Aksu Yıldırım, THEQC members Prof. Dr. Aslıhan Nasır, Prof. Dr. Tuğba Yanpar Yelken, Prof. Dr. Sina Ercan and the university representatives making the presentations.
Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Elmas – THEQC President
Prof. Dr. Sibel Aksu Yıldırım – THEQC Vice President
Prof. Dr. Özgür Ulusoy – Bilkent University
Prof. Dr. Canan Fisun Abay – Ege University
Doç .Dr. Ebru Dülekgürgen – Istanbul Technical University
