Quality assessment in Croatia’s higher education institutes

In March 2010 Zagreb was the place of encounter for those involved in the kick-off of a pilot project on quality assessment and enhancement in professional higher education in Croatia. On Tuesday July 6th, 2010 the participating institutions met again, only this time the discussion was a virtual one.

During the video conference the partners engaged in more than four hours of discussion and exchange of experiences and ideas on internal quality and external quality assessment. On the agenda of the discussion were matters that have been worked on since the kick-off meeting: the critical self-evaluation and the structure of the self evaluation reports, the required supporting documentation as well as the final plan of the institutional audits that will be carried out in October 2010. All Croatian higher educational institutions accepted to undergo the standard NVAO audit procedure which consists of a two day visit of an independent assessment panel to each institution.

During the conference, the composition of the assessment panel was agreed; this will consist of up to four full time members (two internationals, one representing ASHE and one student) and one local expert dedicated to each institution. All institutions fully supported and agreed with the NVAO assessment framework, that is in line with European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) and that will be used for institutional assessment in the Croatian pilot project.

The video conference was arranged within the pilot project on quality assessment and enhancement in professional higher education in Croatia. The first part of the conference was organized between the Croatian partners (Croatian Council of Universities and University Colleges of Applied Sciences, the University College for Applied Computer Engineering in Zagreb, the University of Applied Sciences "Marko Marulic" Knin and the University of Applied Sciences in Slavonski Brod) in order to discuss the assessment framework that will be applied, and to exchange experience and knowledge in respect to the preparation of a self evaluation report. The self-evaluation report is a first step in the procedure of institutional audits that will be carried out in October 2010.

During a two hour session, institutions agreed to fully support each other in the phase of preparing the self assessment; also they decided to undergo the standard audit procedure (described in the guidelines as scenario A) which consists of a two day visit of an independent assessment panel to each institution. The site visit starts with a one-day exploratory visit of the audit panel to the institution. During this visit the audit panel gains insight into the day-to-day running of the institution, into the specific quality points for attention of the executive board of the institution, into the internal quality assurance system and into the satisfaction of students, lecturers and other stakeholders. The panel tests its first findings and explores the themes that are to be investigated further. During a second day visit a more in-depth inspection takes place of a number of issues or ‘audit trails', that have been defined on beforehand by the audit panel.

The second part of the conference was moderated by NVAO in order to provide more detailed information to the Croatian institutions in respect to the assessment framework that will be applied. The discussion served to prepare and agree on the details regarding the audit process and the site visits that will take place in October 2010.

The participants were first addressed by Mr. Lucien Bollaert, NVAO Executive Board Member, who shortly introduced the current project's stage and announced new developments in respect to ASHE's possible involvement in the audit process. He also clarified the way the assessment reports of the audit will be made public, supported by the use of the NVAO logo and NVAO's web page. Further, Mr. Bollaert underlined that the NVAO assessment framework that will be used for the institutional assessment in this pilot project in Croatia applies exactly the same standards as the NVAO framework for institutional audits in the Netherlands and Flanders. The NVAO framework is in line with the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG).

Furthermore, during the conference the composition of the assessment panel was discussed and agreed upon. The audit panel will consist of up to four full time members (two internationals, one representing ASHE and one student) and one local expert dedicated to each institution. Also a detailed description of the expected documents supporting the self evaluation report was given to the involved institutions. The Croatian Council of Universities and University Colleges of Applied Sciences proposed two possible local experts for the audit panel; information regarding the third expert and the student who will participate in the panel will be passed to NVAO during this week. It was agreed that the final date when self evaluation reports will be sent to NVAO is 6th of September, as it was proposed in the initial project plan. Last, the partners were invited by the project coordinator, Mrs. Anja Detant, to raise all questions and possible issues that may arise during the preparation of the self evaluation reports untill the end of July.

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