inner quality assesment

8/2/2019 Inner quality assesment

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V. Ismailova (Azadi TNIWL)

Inner Quality Assessment

Since the first days of gaining independence the educational sphere has been set a task to

train highly qualified specialists in accordance with international standards. In this context the

study of European expertise, the Bologna standards in particular, acquires great significance.

One of the aspects that should be paid attention to is the establishment of a reliable quality

assurance system based on certain quality assurance principles and quality assessment standards.

Though our higher education has not been introduced the tertiary system of higher education

(bachelor master doctor), some positive trends can be studied and successfully implemented.

Among them are quality assessment standards, which include criteria of self-evaluation and

external audit.

The main aims of self-evaluation are to look critically at the effectiveness of theeducational process and university management from inside and to determine to what extent the

knowledge gained answers the needs of the future highly qualified specialist and the national

economy as a whole.

Self-evaluation embraces the following aspects: what the higher educational institution is

doing, why the higher educational institution is doing this, how the higher educational institution is

doing it, how the higher educational institution knows that what it is doing works and how the

higher educational institution can improve what it is doing.

Self-evaluation is carried out by the higher educational institution itself and two weeks are

usually allotted for it. It should be stressed that self-evaluation does not mean a great amount of

documents supplied. It should be based on the material that already exists (tests, questionnaires,

statistics, etc.) and is not compiled specially for the review. Every higher educational institution

has the normative documents they build their activities on, the procedures for implementing its

tasks as an educational institution and also the supporting documents confirming the

implementation. They also should have the ways of evaluating the effectiveness of what is being

done. Thus, the self-evaluation review should be in the form of a pack of supporting documents

with a short commentary highlighting their content and the effectiveness of the procedures applied.

What is important, the self-evaluation review should be compiled so that the people responsible for

external evaluation will be able to interpret it in the right way and come to the right conclusions

regarding the effectiveness of the higher educational institutions activities.

With this end in view the Ministry of Education and/or another evaluating body should

issue guidance on the structure and content of the self-evaluation review. Since it is reasonable to

write a self-evaluation report and submit it every five years, it should contain besides the brief

history and description of the higher educational institution also the summary of recent changes in


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its structure and specialities taught and developments of any kind. Among the supporting

documents rules of admission, curricula, syllabi, teaching and learning strategies, staff

development records, publications, publicity materials, development strategy and tactics, teachers

and students questionnaires and others may be provided.

After studying the self-evaluation material the external evaluation group should have a

notion of curriculum needs and learning outcomes, curriculum development, opportunities

provided for developing the teaching staffs qualification, a resource base available for self-study,

scientific and academic achievements, a degree of the students involvement into the self-

evaluation procedures and activities of the higher educational institution as a whole.

To make the self-evaluation review not only a document submitted to the higher authorities

but an instrument of self-development it is rational to establish the Quality Assurance Centre at

each higher educational institution, which in close collaboration with the Academic Departmentand the Scientific Council is to carry out regular monitoring of the fulfilment of the higher

educational institutions tasks and the development process realised as a result of self-evaluation

procedures and in accordance with the guidelines and recommendations of the Quality Assurance

Agency (established at the Ministry of Education or as an independent body).

The activities of the Quality Assurance Centre should be regulated by the norms worked

out by the Quality Assurance Agency and representatives of the Quality Assurance Centres from

each higher educational institute and should be not limited by collecting statistics or issuing

instructions only. It should become a beneficial organ promoting deeper self-evaluation and

encouraging greater progress.


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inner quality assesment

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