Experience of the Belarusian State University in developing Quality Management System Ludmila Hanchar, Vitaliya Zaitsava, Belarusian State University

Abstract: The present phase of development of higher education sets an actual task of integrating into the world education area and designing and introducing a Quality Management System (QMS) into the university’s management. The first step in designing QMS was to create a special organizational structure and to distribute responsibilities among university units. This structure consists of the Council for Quality headed by the Chairman (Representative on Quality) in his capacity of the First Vice-Rector.

The next phase of work was to design a comprehensive vision of the university’s activities and procedures in relation to the university’s mission as a public institution of higher learning and scientific research.

It was also important to clarify order and interconnection of the processes and activities within the university, to design a system of documentation of QMS and a system of processes and procedures, to set up criteria and methods of work and management, to provide the necessary resources, and finally to undertake measures in order to achieve results and continuous improvement. These measures focused on organizing training sessions and providing informational support for raising awareness of staff on QMS. university’s management, approaches to design QMS, Council for Quality

BSU goals in ensuring the quality of education Quality management systems (QMS) in higher education have been developed for a number of years to improve professional standards in many universities across Europe and around the world. Enhancing the quality of education, both in the area of teaching and learning, has always been one of the strategic priorities of the Belarusian State University (BSU). BSU aims to provide students with the best methods and the latest technologies of knowledge acquisition. BSU’s main goals in ensuring a high quality of education focus on: 1. confirming the authority and competitiveness of the university in the market of educational services and in the international scientific and educational space; 2. developing a package of new export-oriented educational services, including in English; 3. increasing the number of teachers implementing general professional and special disciplines in foreign languages 4. increasing the number of partner universities implementing joint academic mobility programs; 5. ensuring a high number of cooperation agreements with foreign partners. Organisational structure of the BSU quality management system The organisational structure of the BSU quality management system includes several bodies and institutions. One of the main bodies which is directly subordinate to the Rectorate is the Academic Council. It has a Special Representative on Quality which ensures overall coordination of quality control. Apart from that, the QMS organisational architecture includes a Council of Quality, which comprises several working groups. Furthermore, there is a Main Directorate for Academic Affairs which includes a quality division as well as a group of experts who serve as auditors. Finally, there are over 50 Quality Representatives of different BSU structural units. Internal QA system Our internal QA system for teaching staff performance in terms of application of innovative T&L methods and tools. It is realized under the Regulations on Ranking of Teaching Staff and Additional Remuneration. Regulations approved by BSU rector in 2018, so it is just very beginning initial stage of this practices so teachers annually assessed by the following criteria in terms of innovative teaching and learning: Introduction in teaching process such innovative methods as problem-based learning, blended learning, distance learning technologies And the following Indicators are used to assess the performance of teaching staff in terms of application of innovative teaching and learning methods and tools and either pay them additional remuneration for best performance or to push them somehow to promote innovative TandL. So the indicators are: Number of new courses based on innovative methods introduced Number of respective publications on web-portal. Number of academic hours of teaching with support of innovative and technology-enhanced methods Number of tests and examinations carried out with support of innovative and technology- enhanced methods. Student participation in quality assurance Student participation in the QA proccess is ensured through the Students Council for Quality Assurance – a collective body of students self-government which aims to involve students in the decision-making and policy development processes at the central and faculty levels. Main activities of the Students Council for Quality Assurance focus on promoting T&L culture among students, doing surveys and collecting feedback as well as evaluating study programs. The surveys are both internal (covering BSU students) and external (covering graduates from BSU and other universities). Internal surveys include “satisfaction analysis” regularly carried out within QMS, ad-hoc surveys by teaching staff, ad-hoc surveys made by the university administration as well as surveys made by the Students Council for Quality Assurance directly. The most recent survey conducted by the Students Council for Quality Assurance was carried out in November 2019. Detailed information on the Students Council for Quality Assurance is available at: http://uvrm.bsu.by/studencheskij- sovet-pokachestvu-obrazovaniya.html The most recent external survey was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme and was conducted in 2016-2019 within the Fostering Competencies Development in Belarusian Higher Education (FOSTERC) project. The main aim of FOSTERC is to support the modernisation of governance, management and functioning of Belarusian Higher Education Institutions by: -providing indicators for conceptualizing learning outcomes in terms of competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes); -upgrading and improving innovative training methods and the development of pedagogical creativity; -equipping Belarusian Higher Education Institutions with the necessary information tools to facilitate the implementation of internal and external quality assurance systems/guidelines; -modernizing the systems and practices of data collection and analysis in the Belarusian HE system through the development of an integrated Management Information System and improving HEIs' management in teaching and learning activities. The surveys conducted within this project covered over 5000 graduates, 3000 teachers and over 250 employers from 8 different Belarusian universities, including Belarusian State University, Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, Belarusian State Pedagogical University, Francisk Skorina Gomel State University, Grodno State Agrarian University, Polotsk State University, Brest State University and Belarus State Economic University. Detailed information on FOSTERC project and its results is available at: https://fosterc.bsu.by/%D0%BE- %D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B5-fosterc