Quality Assurance System at Oslo University College
Oslo University College (OUC), like other universities and colleges in Norway, is responsible for the quality of its education and research. One condition for requiring the status of accredited institution, is the existence of an internal system of quality assurance that complies with nationally set criteria.
The Quality Assurance System at OUC is based on:
- The Act relating to universities and university colleges
- Regulations relating to quality assurance from the Ministry of Education and Research
- Criteria from The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT).
When developing its Quality Assurance System, OUC put into system and further developed activities and practices already in existence.
Main objectives:
- To assure high quality in education and learning environment
- To assure the relevance of education for the labour market
- To assure that the quality work is satisfactory and reveals failing quality
- To assure continuous quality development and improvement of the system
- To assure participation of students and staff
The faculties offer a diversity of study programmes and they represent quite different cultures. Each faculty has to develop its own quality system based on its totality of study programmes and culture, but within a common framework decided by the Board of OUC. The Board has pointed out some key factors and areas for evaluation, but the faculties decide how and when evaluation should take place within a five year planning period.
Main activities:
- Students’ assessment of the programme they attend. Students are placed in the centre of the process, and the quality assurance system is partly based on student evaluation. It is our experience that the students offer constructive feedback and they are clearly an asset in the work to continuously improve the study programmes.
- Self evaluation performed by faculties and centres, including both academic and administrative activities. The Heads of studies at the faculties are key contributors in this process.
- Develop and maintain procedures for administrative tasks, for instance for establishing new study programmes.
- External evaluation of at least one study programme each year. OUC started external evaluation on its own initiative in 1997.
- Faculties and centres report annually to the Board on the quality of their courses and services. The annual report to the Board includes results and findings from the different evaluations and other feedback sources, information from censors and the professional practice. It also contains statistical analysis of certain key data/numbers (for instance number of applicants, points required for admission, number of credit points students obtain, number of candidates, number of students failing, grades and student exchange)
OUC wants to ensure that evaluation and analyses are based on systematic and accurate data, and that reporting processes are effective so that the results can help produce immediate improvements. We do not want to establish a “quality bureaucracy”. Existing systems and arenas will be used. We want to launch strategic measures to improve quality where there are shortcomings, and good quality is rewarded.
The system is recognized by:
- Broad student and staff participation throughout the institution.
- Stronger focus on quality development than on quality control
- Responsibility for taking the required steps following evaluation and other feedback sources is placed on the lowest possible level in the institution.