The Manual for External Evaluation of Higher Education Institutions
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THE MANUAL FOR EXTERNAL EVALUATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS February 2021 FOREWORD The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) has assessed Kosovo Accreditation Agency, which is the main formal authority for quality assurance of Higher Education Institutions in Kosovo, as an exemplary institution, which has reached significant progress on fitting the Higher Education of the country into the European frameworks. Since then, the KAA is proud to have been adhered to the strict procedure of internal and external quality assurance, based on the Bologna action lines and the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG), which is adopted by the Ministers responsible for HE in the European Higher Education Area, in May 2015. To date, Kosovo and the KAA have marked significant progress in quality assurance by adopting the National Qualification Framework, Criteria and Standards for Accreditation of HEIs, recognition, and promotion of the learning outcomes and shifting of the paradigm of learning and teaching process towards student-centred instead of teacher/professor-centred. Moreover, the international partners consider the work of the KAA as an example of good practice in the field of Higher Education in Kosovo, and this is not a privilege but a commitment to further development and results. In this spirit, among many legal and administrative procedures, standards, and manuals, the KAA has developed this handbook to provide practical guidance to the external evaluation Team members assigned to evaluate HEIs on behalf of the Agency. The KAA believes that providing clear guides and sharing of experience benefits the actions for improvement of the HEIs’ external evaluation process, improvement of all the institutional stakeholders involved in the process, and advancement of the Quality Assurance system in adherence with the European standards. The Kosovo Accreditation Agency 2 3 Contents 7. Decision on Re/Accreditation of HEIs and Its Publication................................................25 7.1. Decision.....................................................................................................................................................25 PART I: INTRODUCTION...............................................................6 7.2. Appeals on the Decision of SCQ ...............................................................................................................25 7.3. Publication of the SCQ’s Decision on Re/Accreditation of HEIs ..............................................................26 1. Background...............................................................................................6 8. Monitoring of HEIs / Follow-Up Recommendations.........................................................26 2. Country Overview....................................................................................6 PART III SUMMING UP..........................................................................................27 Political............................................................................................................................7 – Economy..........................................................................................................................7 III.A. The Most Frequently Asked Questions....................................................................................27 Geography........................................................................................................................7 III.B. The epilogue.............................................................................................................................28 Demographics..................................................................................................................7 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS..................................................................................................29 3. Methodology and structure....................................................................8 ANNEXES...............................................................................................................................29 LIST OF TABLES PART II - GUIDELINES.....................................................................9 Table 1 . Higher Education Qualifications in Kosovo as per NQF ...........................................10 1. Higher Education and Quality Assurance Systems................................9 Table 2. Public HEIs Accredited - Institutional and Study Programs - in Kosovo (2020-2021)....12 2. Main Stakeholders in the HEIs Quality Assurance Process.................11 Table 3. Private HEIs in Kosovo, which have Institutional and Study Programs Accreditation 2.1. Ministry of Education and Science..........................................................................11 2.2. Kosovo Accreditation Agency.................................................................................11 (2020). .................................................................................................................................. 13 2.3. State Council of Quality..........................................................................................11 Table 4. Private HEIs, which have only Study Programs Accreditation in Kosovo (2020)....... 14 2.4. Public HEIs.............................................................................................................12 Table 5. Institutional and Study Programs accreditation schedule ......................................... 17 2.5. Private HEIs............................................................................................................12 2.6. Other HEIs..............................................................................................................14 2.7. Students Organizations within HEIs.......................................................................14 3.Institutional and Study Programs Re/Accreditation Standards..........15 3.1. Institutional Evaluation Standards...........................................................................15 3.2. Study Programs Evaluation Standards....................................................................15 4. Institutional and Study Programs External Evaluation....................16 4.1. External Evaluation.................................................................................................16 4.2. Stages of External Evaluation.................................................................................16 4.3. External Evaluation period.................................................................................... 16 4.4. Schedule of the External Evaluation process.......................................................... 16 4.5. Duties and responsibilities of the KAA...................................................................17 4.6. Duties and Responsibilities of the evaluation Team/s..............................................18 4.7. Objection of the Evaluation Team by HEIs .............................................................19 4.8. Methodology of Work for the Evaluation Team......................................................19 4.9. Expenses of the Evaluation Program........................................................................19 5. Institutional and Study Programs Evaluation Process...........,..........19 5,1, Self –Evaluation Report..........................................................................................19 5.2. Stage 1: Preparation for the evaluation and the visit..............................................20 Step 1. Approval of HEI’s request (s) for re/accreditation by the KAA.......................20 Step 2. Creation of the evaluation team(s) and preparation for the site visit................20 Step 3. Preparation of site visit program ......................................................................20 5.3 Stage 2: On-Site Visit..............................................................................................21 5.4. Stage 3: Drafting and Approving the External Review Report..............................23 6. External Review Report Writing.............................................................24 6.1. Content of the External Review Report..................................................................24 6.2. Principles of External Review Report Writing........................................................24 6.3. Compliance calculation/assessment template.........................................................24 4 5 PART I: INTRODUCTION Political Kosovo is the newest country in Europe, established as an independent state on February 17, 2008 and has a 1. Background Parliamentary character. After the independence, short-term governments have characterized its political context. The political instability and short-term governments continue to be a hinder to state development and This handbook is developed to provide practice-based guidelines to the international evaluation experts international subjectivity. Kosovo has signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU in 20156, assigned to conduct an external evaluation of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Kosovo on behalf of and it is a potential EU membership candidate. the Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA). The external evaluation of HEIs in Kosovo is regulated by a number of legal acts, which are the reference point Economy of the evaluation programme and are publicly available