Remarks by national accreditation agencies regarding the effects of the pandemic on quality and accreditation

Quality assurance systems in higher education function as significant instruments for improving international competitiveness, raising qualified individuals equipped with the 21st century skills, and fostering continuous improvement outlook in higher education institutions. National accreditation agencies have a key role in establishing a national quality assurance system. 

A total of 16 national accreditation agencies authorized by the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (THEQC) perform program accreditation activities in various disciplines in the Turkish higher education system. With the rapid transition to distance education in all higher education programs due to Covid-19 pandemic, finding out methods to continue program accreditation activities without any interruption and sustaining quality efforts became one of the top priorities on THEQC’s agenda. In this framework, THEQC maintained close cooperation and communication activities with national accreditation agencies and exchanged knowledge and experience with regard to the new steps to be taken in distance evaluation processes and the quality assurance of distance education. 

Accreditation agencies’ integration practices on various subjects such as online evaluator training, blended evaluation models that will combine virtual and face-to-face evaluation approaches, and remote evaluation infrastructure are currently ongoing along with a close monitoring of the international trends in the field. Besides, it has been observed that all the national accreditation agencies have been focusing on the mechanisms of evaluating whether students achieve the targeted learning outcomes throughout the distance education process. 

We would like to thank all the national accreditation agencies whose unremitting labors and devotion during the pandemic have ensured good outcomes. So, we are happy to share with you their remarks emphasizing the importance of quality assurance systems in higher education especially in such times of uncertainty. 

THEQC 

*listed in alphabetical order of acronyms. 

Accreditation Association of Dental Education Programs (DEPAD)

Dental education should produce dentists with competencies such as field knowledge and skills, legal responsibilities and social skills at the expected learning levels. DEPAD defines and develops the standards of dental education that would produce qualified and competent graduates at national and international levels. Dentists graduating from the institutions that meet the defined standards would have equal knowledge, skills and competencies with other dentists graduating from national or international dentistry programs. So, students do not fall behind in terms of time or learning materials when they transfer to another institution during their period of study.  

With the visits paid by expert teams, DEPAD evaluates institutions’ processes and documents their compliance with the defined standards. The agency also monitors the continuity of accredited institutions with interim evaluations, contributes to identifying the strengths of institutions and promotes a competitive environment that supports improvement.

The accreditation granted by our agency is a reliable source verifying that the quality of the institution’s dentistry education is approved and continuous.

Evaluation and Accreditation Association for Programs in the Faculties of Pharmacy (ECZAKDER)  

We are passing through a period in which all stakeholders work devotedly to minimize the implications of Covid-19 pandemic in our higher education system. We think that the experience academia will gain in this process will make great contributions for fostering a culture of distance education in our country. As pharmacists, we can say that using only distance education methods will cause certain problems in pharmacy education and practices since this profession is directly responsible for people’s health as other branches of health sciences. So, we believe that a blended learning model that contains distance education methods will be useful for our faculties in terms of overcoming this process in the best way possible and adapting the profession of pharmacy to the roles designated in the ever-changing and developing global context. As ECZAKDER, we find the experiences of other agencies, especially THEQC, very valuable. We are doing our best to adapt to this process, planning to organize our evaluator trainings in the virtual environment and taking all necessary measures. We hope all accreditation activities could be performed without any problem and in the safest and healthiest ways possible.

Evaluation and Accreditation Association for Teaching Programs (EPDAD) 

Marked as one of the most tragic incidents in the history of humanity, Covid-19 pandemic has scourged all the humanity like a global tsunami and has become a historical turning point in the field of education just as in all the other fields. The pandemic made it clear to us the fact that we turn our own products into unalterable cults as time passes by. This realization led to deep reflections and questions about the current codes of formal education, which is a philosophical and theoretical heritage of the Industrial Revolution. Our inadequacy in technological literacy proves that the necessities and demands of the Information Age have remained unfulfilled. The countries who do not wish to fall behind in the aftermath of the pandemic have started to handle this crisis as an opportunity for change and reform. On the other hand, the ones restrained by status-quo are likely to fail. Higher education should be the trailblazer of this reform. Quality assurance and accreditation practices will undoubtedly play a vital role in this process.

Following verses written by Rumi centuries ago reflect that constant change is always necessary for continuity:

“What word that belongs to yesterday,

Is gone, my loved one, with yesterday,

Now is the time to say new things.”

Science, Literature, Faculty of Science and Letters, Faculty of Languages, History and Geography Curriculum Programs Assessment and Accreditation Association (FEDEK)

As FEDEK, we think that our universities have confronted an unprecedented problem during the 2019-2020 academic year due to Covid-19 pandemic. While all universities have maintained their teaching practices without giving any break under the coordination of Council of Higher Education (CoHE), some issues caused by this new condition have been resolved in time, but a number of problems related to assessment and evaluation do still persist.

The pandemic has manifested the critical role and contributions of institutional accreditation activities undertaken by THEQC and program accreditation activities conducted by authorized accreditation agencies in the field of higher education.  

Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Nursing Programs (HEPDAK) 

In nursing programs, accreditation processes contribute to enhancing quality of education in relevant higher education institutions and assuring that people would receive safe and quality nursing care by producing qualified graduates. Accreditation is essential for quality training, qualified graduates and better healthcare. Accredited programs prove to society that they offer quality training and help students choose programs fit for their purpose. Also, healthcare institutions and organizations want to employ nurses who will provide nursing care services in an evidence-based way and with good practices. To successfully manage extraordinary health crises such as Covid-19 pandemic at a national level, countries must have resilient healthcare institutions/organizations and professionals. One of the most significant quality criteria in nursing education is to be able to give graduates having such resilience. This pandemic reminded all stakeholders of the crucial role competent nurses play in providing services and the necessity of ensuring the quality of education in the field. With the sudden transition to distance education during the pandemic, the changes that occurred in the roles of higher education institutions, instructors and students required the reorganization of accreditation processes. Continuous improvement and quality culture, which provides a basis for accreditation, will make easier for higher education institutions and accreditation agencies to manage this process successfully.  

Theological Studies Accreditation Agency (İAA)

The possibility of a major transformation in education systems due to the pandemic has introduced even greater responsibilities to accreditation agencies, since they provide an external perspective on higher education programs. Cognizant of this responsibility, Theological Studies Accreditation Agency (İAA) maintains its improvement and updating activities on both national and international scales with the contributions of its stakeholders and shares its experiences with national and international evaluators via training activities.

Communication Research Association (İLAD) 

Today, universities are mainly responsible for learning and teaching, research activities and their contributions to science and society. While fulfilling these duties, universities should focus on the “quality” of services. The subject of “quality” and the phenomenon and process of “sustainable quality” have recently become more prominent around the world.

In this sense, it is obvious that the quality assurance of higher education has various aspects and components such as the quality of education and instructors, infrastructure and facilities of higher education institutions, quality and relevance of curricula, and adequacy of students’ prior learning. Also, each component comprises different factors. In a nutshell, quality and quality assurance of higher education should be analyzed in consideration of many factors.

With the reorganization of THEQC as of 2016, tangible improvements have been made in learning and teaching activities in our country thanks to the Institutional External Evaluation Program and program accreditations. It has also been observed that higher education institutions have gradually been internalizing the notions of “quality” and “sustainable quality”. Program accreditations in particular promote cooperation and a productive competition between units.

As İLAD, the three-year experience of accreditation practices in communication education programs yielded very good results. Thanks to the accreditation practices, the programs applying or planning to apply for accreditation feel the need to keep up with the updates and modern technologies according to the criteria set by İLAD.

Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Engineering Programs (MÜDEK)  

As MÜDEK, we have been taking all necessary measures to prevent the negative effects of Covid-19 outbreak on the accreditation processes of programs offering engineering education in various disciplines in our country. We are in close contact with national and international umbrella organizations for education accreditation. While developing our roadmap, we aimed to come up with the best possible solution in the national context by evaluating the strengths and shortcomings of different practices. We hope to overcome this process without compromising our principles that serve the goal of contributing to raising better engineers. We are currently drafting a guideline for the engineering programs included in accreditation processes and transitioned to distance education during the pandemic.

Landscape Architecture Education and Research Association (PEMDER)

Departing from the motto “think global, act local”, we believe that one of the key milestones for the implementation of globally-accepted educational quality processes at the local level is the effective management of accreditation processes. Considering that the role of distance education will grow in the future, it is important to specify the goals related to distance education while setting the accreditation criteria. Internalization of quality and fostering the culture of accreditation in educational practices throughout the pandemic will contribute to raising qualified human resources, which will guarantee the presence of a sustainable improvement.

Health Sciences Education Programs Evaluation and Accreditation Association (SABAK)

Maintaining quality efforts for health education programs in different disciplines and providing accreditation evaluation services are the only ways to contribute to the improvement of quality in health sciences education across Turkey. Accreditation services function as an instrument to improve the social welfare by producing well-trained and qualified health professionals who know the latest technologies in health education programs. Applying for accreditation and being accredited also guide programs in terms of internationalization in education.  

Sports Sciences Association (SPORAK)

Sports sciences, which is a big sector at both national and international levels considering the fact that sports and physical activities address all segments of society as well as several other factors such as participants, viewers, trainers, facilities-equipment, transportation and accommodation, made a great progress in our country in terms of the number of students and study programs. This progress necessitates increasing the quality standards of the education and services offered to students and stakeholders. During the pandemic, SPORAK has taken steps to avoid any interruption in the continuity of works and drawn a roadmap on applications and evaluations via online meetings. SPORAK will guarantee maintaining quality and accreditation activities in the education of sports sciences in line with changing conditions.

Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Medical Education Programs (TEPDAD)

Developing and sustaining quality in medical education have been gaining more importance universally over the past 15-20 years. Accreditation of medical education programs stands out as the most significant instrument in achieving this. Students and society are assured about the quality of education thanks to accreditation activities. Parallel to these developments, accreditation activities in medical education programs have improved in Turkey over the last decade. The main goal is to enhance the quality of medical education in Turkey and provide better healthcare services to society. So far, 41 medical faculty programs have been accredited. Our target is to include all medical faculties in accreditation processes.  

Turkish Psychological Association (TPD)

In our country, accreditation works especially in the field of higher education have come to the fore within the past decade. However, the ongoing pandemic has disrupted the accreditation activities in Turkey and the world. But it is undoubted that quality and accreditation are crucial for all means of education, no matter if it is virtual or face-to-face. As for the distance education methods adopted for the 2019-2020 spring semester and might be extended to several semesters ahead due to the pandemic, accreditation criteria should be defined and the matter of how to do accreditation evaluations should be resolved. Undoubtedly, there are major differences between the features of programs to be accredited (medicine, engineering, social sciences etc.). Therefore, it is important for each program to determine a set of distance education standards that are compliant with their structure and features. Also, the issue of restructuring accreditation evaluations according to the specifics of the program has been brought to the agenda. At this point, the most reasonable option seems to be conducting evaluations solely on virtual environment (online interviews etc.) or partially virtual evaluations that only include a half day site visit to observe facilities such as laboratories.

Association of Turkish Tourism Academics (TUADER)

Tourism is among the most flourishing and diversifying industries of this century. The need for qualified human resources grows as a result of this rapid improvement and specific features of the industry. A large number of faculties, schools of higher education and vocational schools of higher education offering tourism education were founded especially as of the 1980s in our country with the aim of meeting the deficit in the field. The schools and faculties that offer education in the fields of tourism management, recreation, gastronomy and tourist guiding take on the role of meeting the need for qualified personnel in the tourism industry. In recent years, the leading criticism directed by sector stakeholders to tourism education is that the qualifications of tourism school graduates do not meet the demands of the sector. To solve this problem and engage in works to improve quality levels of tourism schools and faculties, Tourism Education Evaluation and Accreditation Board (TUADER-TURAK) was founded and accreditation practices in the field were kicked off in 2017 under the leadership of the Association of Turkish Tourism Academics (TUADER) and with the participation of the sector stakeholders. Having accredited 8 programs so far, our Board targets accrediting at least 20 percent of the tourism education programs in our country and ensuring the international recognition of our accreditations within the next 5 years.

Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Educational Institutions and Programs of Veterinary Medicine (VEDEK)

Accreditation activities, which are directly related to enhancing quality in higher education institutions, aim to improve the welfare of society by contributing to raising qualified individuals who can grasp latest technologies relevant to their fields, are equipped with research-based knowledge, skills and competencies, and uphold ethical principles and lifelong learning. In this scope, the distance education models adopted for the continuation of learning and teaching activities amidst Covid-19 pandemic should be standardized and included in learning and teaching policies of higher education institutions for similar situations that might arise in the future. We think that courses and teaching methods should be determined according to certain components of distance education such as infrastructure, accessibility and usability.