
THEQC Students Commission Completes the Quality Ambassador Training Program (QAP’24) for Higher Education Students
- Date 26 March 2024
THEQC Students Commission Completes the Quality Ambassador Training Program (QAP'24) for Higher Education Students
The “Quality Ambassador Training Program (QAP’)” organised by the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (THEQC) Students Commission to ensure that students, one of the crucial stakeholders in higher education, participate in the quality assurance system in higher education, spread the quality culture, and gain competence in the field of quality assurance, was carried out.
430 students out of 1,460 applicants were invited to the online QAP’24-Quality Ambassador Training Program, as a result of the assessments based on criteria, such as HEI, education level, gender, and regional and department diversity of the applicants. The first interactive training in the scope of the QAP’24 was given on 11-12 March 2024, and the second on 18-19 March 2024.
Asst. Prof. Songül Omur, academic coordinator of the THEQC Students Commission, undertook the instructional design, material development, and peer trainer training duties as well as being the coordinator of the program. Erdoğan Taha Akbaş, Commission Chair; Ulaş Atıcı, Commission Vice-Chair; and Berivan Çiçek, Berkay Tarım, Ece Alara Özdarendeli, Fatma Derya Arıkan, Gizem Şahin, Melike Gülay, Nurefşan Acar and Sayibe Baran, Commission members, took role in the training program as peer trainers.
Consisting of six modules, the training started with an opening speech by Asst. Prof. Songül Omur. The training was moderated by peer trainers in virtual classrooms and lasted nine hours. Its content included giving information about THEQC and the THEQC Students Commission, the importance of student involvement in quality assurance processes in higher education, the basic concepts of THEQC’s evaluation processes, and interactive group works on the THEQC Rubric, ISER writing, and evaluation processes. At the end of the first day of the two-day program, participants were assigned to practice what they learned, and an exam was conducted at the end of the second day.
The training also included a session that was moderated by commission members and in which students, who are THEQC evaluators and are accepted to the ESU (European Students’ Union) quality assurance student experts’ pool, shared their experience. In this module, students who have contributed to the quality assurance system in their institutions, took part in the THEQC evaluation teams, and are members of ESU quality assurance student experts’ pool, attended as speakers and shared their knowledge and experience. The training ended with a general assessment and the conduct of a feedback survey. The students, who actively participated in the training, completed the practices and became successful as a result of the exam conducted at the end of the training, were granted the right to receive a certificate of participation.
THEQC Students Commission’s programs and activities are announced on its @kaliteelcisi social media accounts.