Six-year cycle for QA

The University of Antwerp chose a new programme evaluation consisting of three components and following a six-year cycle:

1. Systematic care of educational development (SYZO)

The systematic care of educational development (SYZO in Dutch) starts from the UAntwerp vision on education, the 8 lines of action in education and the processes described in the Manual for Quality Assurance.

Throughout the six-year cycle the programmes organise, in cooperation with the CIKO, different evaluations, analyses and follow-up, like the evaluation of courses by means of student surveys, measurement of study time, sounding board group discussions with alumni and the professional field, discussions with focus groups, programme evaluations, an external benchmark of the master thesis.

The resulting documents or actions are demonstrated in the education portfolio of the faculty and the programme portfolio.

2. Internal process monitoring and guidance (IPS)

Half way through the six-year cycle the University of Antwerp plans a moment of internal process monitoring and guidance (IPS in Dutch).

In consultation with the programme and the CIKO, the department of Education evaluates the programme, and examines to what extend the systematic care of educational development is sufficiently and qualitatively embedded in the daily functioning of the Educational Commission.

For this internal process monitoring the faculty should not have to provide any additional material: the evaluation is done on the basis of the existing material. Based on the education portfolio of the faculty and the programme portfolio, the department of Education makes a document analysis and defines its strengths and weaknesses.

The department of Education will discuss the results with the Chair of the Education Board. Only if necessary this will be followed by a conversation with the programme, possibly in presence of a team of internal experts. Either way, there will be a moment of feedback  which will result in a report (possibly with a plan for improvement). The report will be presented to the Education Board.

3. Self-reflection with peer review (ZPR)

Every six years each programme will take the time to reflect more systematic and thorough on the quality of the programme, the results and future challenges.

In a brief self-reflection they will write down their analysis and point out all the strong and weaker aspects, and their vision on the future. All those involved in the programme can work on this.

In collaboration with the programme, the department of Education will also organise a peer review. A peer review team of internal and external members will visit the programme and look into the quality of education, based on documentation and conversations. This way the experts will hold a mirror up to the programme, which the programme can then use to evolve.

Thanks to this six-year cycle with IPS-moment in between, the focus of the self-reflection with peer review (ZPR in Dutch) can be more on the content of the programme rather than on the underlying processes.