Allow for risk-taking and failure to achieve quality, universities told

“Improving quality, enhancing creativity: change process in European higher education institutions” is based on a two-year EC-funded project, that EUA has carried out with partners ACQUIN, the Accreditation, Certification and Quality Assurance Institute in Germany, the Higher Education Academy in the UK and the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

The project brought together 29 higher education institutions and Quality Assurance (QA) Agencies from 18 different countries to explore what kind of quality assurance processes in teaching and learning (external and internal) support creativity and innovation. In the past, there have been concerns that QA processes can actually inhibit creativity within higher education.

The report contains seven recommendations for universities and agencies:

• QA processes must allow space for risk-taking and failure, while at the same time enabling institutions to identify and rectify a failure when it occurs;

• To ensure that quality assurance is context sensitive (for example, taking account of different disciplines, cultures and national context);

• QA should be inclusive – engaging the whole university community (academics and students) and should not just be the responsibility of a “QA unit”;

• Effective quality assurance is based on a successful partnership between agencies and institutions, which should leave space for “trust and self-reflection”;

• Sharing QA “experiences” is essential, and the authors recommend the creation of platforms for dialogue both between departments, institutions and even at European level, though these platforms should not be based solely on copying good practices, but stimulating critical analysis;

• QA processes must support institutions’ capacity to change and to reach strategic goals;

• Agencies and institutions need to ensure engagement of all key actors in QA processes.