Claus Nygaard

Associate professor, ph.d., senior advisor

CBS Learning Lab

Copenhagen Business School

Denmark

Systematic and Continuous

Quality Enhancement

at CBS

Presentation at OAQ-CRUS Conference in Bern

2 December 2005 Internal quality assurance at

higher education institutions - requirements

and good practices

Agenda

• About CBS– Organisation– Facts and figures

• Quality Enhancement– Mission statement– Aims of the learning university– Quality enhancement – a bottom up

perspective

• Important lessons?– What can be learned from CBS?

About CBS

CBS Organisation

Staff unit for internal quality enhancement• Consultancy

curriculum developmentfrom teaching to learning pedagogical issuessupervisione-learning (design and implementation)project managementtask forces and project groups

• Competence development courses for teachers and administrative staff supervision

• Development of new knowledge and methodsInternational research, articles, papers

Student population 15,062

Foreign students 1,138

Full-time academic staff 443

Visiting professors 34

Part-time academic staff 1,026

Administrative staff 582

Funding (million Euro) 104.2

Exchange and cooperation agreements worldwide 308

CBS key figures (2004)

Student enrollment at CBS (2004) (6.055)

2384

1844

1608

219

Undergraduate

Graduate

Open University

Executive Master

13

86

18Undergraduate

Graduate

Open University

Executive Master

Study programs at CBS (2004) (45)

Administrative full-time staff at CBS (2004) (582)

260

132334

200

52

CBS Administration

Library

CBS Learning Lab

Executive Center

Faculty for Language

Faculty for Economics

2103

338

CBS Learning Lab

Faculty for Language

Faculty for Economics

Academic full-time staff at CBS (2004) (443)

99

208

76

24

36

376

650 Professors

Associate professors

Assistant professors

Research fellows

Other

External lecturers

Teaching assistants

Full-time and part-time academic staff at CBS (2004)

Quality Enhancement

Quality enhancement at CBS

• Quality is about creating a culture

– is embedded in the CBS-mission and strategic focus areas

– has strong support from CBS leadership and management

– is located at and supported by CBS Learning Lab

– involves the university as a whole

– is a continuous, systematic activity

– requires a focus on both quality enhancement and quality assurance

– has an international orientation

– is stakeholder-related

– uses external quality expertise

Integrated aspects

Mission statement

Quality aimsStrategic goals

Mission statement

• CBS wants to be among the best higher education institutions in Europe• To be a major contributor to value creation in business and society• Train graduates who will be competitive in the international job market• Develop new research-based knowledge in partnership with companies and other organizations

Strategic goals• International profile based on a regional foundation• Intensified partnership with the business community• Being a Learning University

Quality aims

• Develop CBS as a learning university

• Empower CBS students to be reflective practitioners

• Enhance quality in all study programmes so we educate students who are

competitive on the job market

• Develop an internal quality culture safeguarding institutional autonomy and

public accountability

• Stimulate internal capacity for self-reflection and change

• Promote the exchange of ideas, experiences and good practice

CBS Learning Lab

The primary aim of CBS Learning Labs is to work for a continuous enhancement of

quality in study programs and teaching on Copenhagen Business School.

Quality indicators:

• Study programs have relevant and operational goals

• Variation in forms of teaching and examination with integration of ICT• Teaching is oriented towards practise• Teaching is research-based• High student activity based on students being responsible for their own learning processes• Study programs are interdisciplinary

• Consistency between goals, study activities and forms of examination

CBS’ Quality Circle

1. Exceptional - ambition to be among the best in Europe

2. Perfection - develop as a learning university

3. Fitness for purpose - stakeholder-related quality enhancement

4. Value for money - payback to stakeholders

5. Transformation - empower students

Quality circle

Key Stakeholders

1. Exceptional

2. Perfection

3. Fitness for purpose

4. Value for money

5. Transformation

Quality circle

• Students• Academic partners• Corporate partners• Ministry

• Academic staff• Administrative staff• Students

• Students• Business community • Corporate partners• Ministry

• Government• Ministry• Parliament• Taxpayers• Students• Graduates• Employers

• Students• Teachers• Researchers• External examiners• Advisory Boards

Learning features:

• CEMS Benchmarking (1995)

• CRE-Audit (1996), CRE Follow-Up (1998) (now EUA)

• EQUIS Accreditation (1999/2000)

• EQUIS re-accreditation (2004/2005)

• ESMU Benchmarking Programme (since 2002)

• Internal Research evaluation (with international peers) – ongoing since 1994

• EVA-Audit of masters’ and bachelor programmes - ongoing, latest 2005

1. Quality as Exceptional- ambition to be among the best in Europe

• Students• Academic partners• Corporate partners• Ministry

Example: ESMU Benchmarking

• Strategic Management

• Management of Teaching, Learning and Assessment

• Marketing the University

• Internal Quality Assurance

• Student Services

• Management Information Systems

• Students• Academic partners• Corporate partners• Ministry

1. Quality as Exceptional- ambition to be among the best in Europe

2. Quality as Perfection - develop as a learning university

Learning features:

• Staff recruitment• Staff development• Benchmarking (internal and external)• Quality culture• Curriculum development

• Academic staff• Administrative staff• Students

Example: CBS Teaching and Learning Committee– www.CBSEVALUERING.dk– a survey of the dropout rate of students at the Faculty of Languages,

Communication and Cultural Studies– CBS ’good practices’ for the embedding of transferable skills in the

curriculum according to the educational objectives of the university

Example: CBS Learning Lab– Assistant professor programme in teaching and pedagogical competence– Implementation of SiteScape Forum on all study programmes– Development of a LEARNING STRATEGY FOR CBS (discussed with board

of directors, deans, study boards, head of departments, student organisations, assistant professors participating in the assistant professors programme)

• Academic staff• Administrative staff• Students

2. Quality as Perfection - develop as a learning university

Student online activities

Our use of SiteScape in a bachelor course:

1+2 semester 2002-2003:

Ca. 65 students, 11 weeks course, 622 online posts in total

3+4 semester 2003-2004:

Ca. 55 studerende, 15 weeks course, 458 online posts in total

All users (teachers and students) receive an e-mail digest with all new posts each morning at 5.00 am.

The course is constantly in the mind of the students

Teachers get insight into the knowledge of the students and the development of the course

Students get insight into the knowledge of each other

Studens get access to teachers corrections of assignments and marking

Students get a sense of belonging to a group / the course

3. Quality as fitness for purpose - stakeholder-related quality enhancement

Learning features:

• Dialogue with the Business Community • Dialogue with graduates (alumni)• Advisory Boards• Life-long learning

• Students• Business community • Corporate partners• Ministry

3. Quality as fitness for purpose - stakeholder-related quality enhancement

Examples:

• 16 corporate partners• 22 alumni organisations• Career Office (graduate placement)• International CaseCompetition (100% student run)• Students have internships in companies (master program in HRM, bachelor program in business economics and communication)• Students are assigned a mentor from a company (master program in HRM)

• Students• Business community • Corporate partners• Ministry

4. Quality as value for money - payback to stakeholders

Learning features:

• External evaluations by the national quality agency (EVA)• Performance indicators (2005-2006) (Ministry)• Performance agreement (2000-2003) (Ministry)• Internal evaluations – feedback to students on webpage• Multiple focus group interviews with employers and alumni

regarding drop-out rates, curriculum development, competencies of graduates

• Bi-annual qualitative study of the ”learning environment” at CBS (2004)

• Government• Ministry• Parliament• Taxpayers• Students• Graduates• Employers

5. Quality as transformation - empower students to learn to learn

Learning features:

• Continuous quality improvement • Curriculum development with focus on learning rather than

teaching (example of our philosophy is in the article by Nygaard & Andersen distributed to this workshop)

• Evaluation of transformative learning• Embedding transferable skills into the academic curriculum• Benchmarking (internal and external) – transfer of ’good practice’• Use of an external expert

• Students• Teachers• Researchers• External examiners• Advisory Boards

5. Quality as transformation - empower students

• Students• Teachers• Researchers• External examiners• Advisory Boards

Example: CBS Learning Lab

• Development and implementation of a learning strategy for the entire organisation• Development of courses for teachers in case-based teaching, applied pedagogics,

on-line teaching, supervision, examination• Close links to student organisations (members of the two student organisations on

the CBS LL board)• Membership on the Teaching and Learning Committee• Seminars for student members of study boards (”problem oriented learning”, ”to

serve as a member of a study board”) • CBS CaseCompetition will be physically located at CBS LL in December 2005 (25

students in their organisation)• Development of ad-hoc inputs and whitepapers for faculty and study boards

working with the implementation of a ”learning based pedagogy”

Important Lessons?

Strengths identified at CBS: • a coherent quality system, systematically applied; • an established quality culture; • good involvement of stakeholders; • the learning lab initiative and the students’ involvement in its inception and

management; • effective use of results from quality reviews and processes for the dual purpose

of quality improvement and organisational learning; • use of the above for opening up a high level of dialogue between staff and

between staff and students; • a strong focus on student outcomes; • effective feedback loops; • transparent information.

- Report from Nordic Project on Quality Assurance in Higher Education Institutions (2005)

ApproachesHierarchical vs. OrganicTop-down vs. Bottom-up

Bad quality enhancementWhen it doesn’t work so well:

Projects are run by single

people or a group of people

who are put together because

they have formal positions of

power that gives them ”the right”

to participate. Due to the formal

structure of the group, the decision

power stays within the frame of the

organisation chart, and key actors

have difficulties in changing the

direction, be innovative if they are

not powerful per se.

Good quality enhancement

When it works well it is:

Project based, organisedin loosely-coupled networksof hand-picked key actorswith motivation, drive, andexpert knowledge within thefield in question. Projectsare following the overallstrategy, but decision powerand autonomy is given to thekey actors in the projects. Theformal organisation is put aside,and groups are manned due tocompetencies and ideas.

The CBS philosophy• Successful quality enhancement is to be made from an organic,

bottom-up approach where focus is on key stakeholders

• An organic, bottom-up approach leads to commitment and

sense of ownership

• Quality enhancement in multiple parts of the organisation

requires a well-developed information system

• Key stakeholders and key actors have to be brought together

in coordinating the quality enhancement process

• Strategy formulation and implementation need constantly to

run throughout the entire organisation