ARACIS March 01- 04, 2009 ENQA Workshop QUALITY ASSURANCE IN POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION.

ARACIS

March 01- 04, 2009ENQA Workshop

QUALITY ASSURANCE IN POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION

ARACIS

External evaluation of Master programmes in Romania

Director of the ARACIS Evaluation DepartmentProf. Radu Mircea Damian

Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education External evaluation of Master programmes in Romania

SHORT HISTORY OF QUALITY ASSURANCE IN ROMANIA

The beginning (1993 – 2004)

-1993: Adoption of Law no. 88/1993 on Evaluation and Accreditation ofHigher Education Institutions and Recognition of Diplomas creating theNational Council for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation (CNEAA), incharge with procedures for evaluation and accreditation of institutions and study programs- 1995 : Adoption of the Education Law no. 84/1995- 1996 : Adoption by several Romanian Universities of the ECTS system- Starting with 1999, implementing of an External dimension of thequality assurance, by the Bologna Process, based on the Bologna Declaration-2004 : Adoption of Law 288/2004, introducing the new Bologna structure

and the ECTS system in all Romanian Higher Education Institutions

Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education External evaluation of Master programmes in

Romania

The present days (2005 – now)

- 2005/2006 : Adoption of the Government Ordinance No. 75 for Quality Assurance in Education, adopted on July 12th, modified and approved by Law 87/2006 – Creation of ARACIS – Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education

- Adoption of the Government Decision nr. 404/29.03.2006 on the organization of university Master studies


ROMANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM:

• 56 public universities

• 30 private accredited universities

• 20 private authorized universities


STUDENTS IN ROMANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM (2006/2007, National

Institute of Statistics) :

- STATE UNIVERSITIES - 520 263

- PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES – 265 243

Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education

MAIN PRINCIPLES OF ROMANIAN QUALITY ASSURANCE

European Dimension, characterized by the integration in the European Higher Education Area of all Romanian Higher Education institutions;

Institutional responsibility, considered as a concept based on the principle of academic autonomy;

Institutional diversity, guaranteed through the external quality evaluation of all study programmes;

Cooperation of all the components of the educational system, that cooperate together as part of a whole system;

Focus on result, by reference to the position obtained in quality assurance/evaluation Institutional identity, by influencing good practices and successfull structures in the field of

academic quality; Internal institutional self-evaluation, as Universities present the specificity of the quality culture

through self-evaluation reports, ensuring continuous performance improvements; External evaluation, by verification of a University reported results, through the analysis of

performance and relationship with the stated institutional reality (includins student activities, conformity to the stated standards);

Improvement of quality – main objective of all Higher Education Institutions and, therefore, of the Romanian Quality Assurance system

Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education

External evaluation of Master programmes in Romania

In compliance with the legal provisions, master programmes represent the 2nd cycle of university studies and are a compulsory preparatory

stage for doctoral studies.

Only higher education institutions accredited within the accredited licence domain have the right to organize Master study cycles

The Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation can approve, by Ministerial Order, additional study domains in which master studies can be organized, at the proposal of ARACIS


Master programmes may be focused on research, namely the thorough study of a discipline scientific field, on complementarities, namely the inter-discipline or trans-discipline thorough study of a study field, or on professionalization, namely gaining professional competences in a specialised field.

In the external evaluation made in view of

accreditation, there are also applied the provisions of the Government’s Decision no. 404/2006 with regard to the organization and implementation of Master’s Degree studies.


Specific accreditation objectives for master university study programmes

The extent to which the master study programme respects the criteria, standards and performance indicators established in the ARACIS Methodology

The extent to which the master studies ensure the thorough study in the academic degree study fields or in a related field or obtaining complementary competences in other fields, as well as the development of scientific research capacities

Respecting the number of transferable study credits specified by the legal provisions, usually comprised between 90 and 120; by exception, for the fields where the 1st cycle of university studies corresponds to a number of minimum 300 ECTS credits, the number of transferable study credits for the proposed master programme may be minimum 60


Specific accreditation objectives for university master study programmes

Respecting the legal provisions concerning the psycho-pedagogical training module for the future graduates who want to work in the primary and secondary education, high school and higher education respectively

Respecting the legal provisions concerning the availability of teaching staff for the master study programme

Respecting the legal provisions concerning the finalisation of master studies by the dissertation paper


Normative requirements on the accreditation of master study programmes

AREAS OF QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

A . INSTITUTIONALCAPACITY

B. EDUCATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

C. QUALITY MANAGEMENT



With regard to the legal framework of organisation and functioning of master study programmes.

only higher education institutions accredited within the academic degree fields with accredited programmes have the right to organise master study programmes;

the assumed educational and scientific research mission justifies by elements of relevance and opportunity compared to the national classified list of qualifications and refers to the educational, scientific research and professional objectives;

the assumed educational and scientific research mission is part of the profile and speciality of the organising educational unit.



With regard to the teaching staff.

For the accreditation of a master study programme, all the teaching positions legally created shall be covered by university teachers tenured in higher education according to the law, having the degree of university professors, associate professors or senior lecturers/lecturers, with the scientific title of doctor in the field of the disciplines from the teaching position. Out of them, 80% shall be employed with basic teaching loads. A priority in covering the positions shall be offered to advisors of doctoral studies who work in the programme’s field or in related fields.



With regard to the educational process content.

the defining and precise determination of the general and speciality competences, according to the master study fields and programmes;

compatibility with the national framework of qualifications;

compatibility with syllabi and master study programmes similar to those offered in the European Union countries and other countries of the world, the disciplines’ share being expressed in ECTS study credits



With regard to the students.

The students’ recruitment is carried out according to the university’s own admission procedures; the registration to the entrance examination is carried out on the basis of the 1st cycle graduation diploma – academic degree university studies.



With regard to the scientific research.

The higher education institution has its own research laboratories in the field of the master study programme the accreditation was applied for. The laboratories’ equipment corresponds to the requirements of the approached themes. The existing equipment allows the development of far-reaching national and international research.

The master study programme submitted to evaluation, has its own scientific research plan, included in the strategic plan of the faculty and of the institution it belongs to, certified by documents that can be found at chairs, departments, faculty. The research topics comprised in the plan belong to the scientific area of the master of science field.




The teaching and research staff perform scientific research activities valorised by publications in speciality magazines or publishing houses inside the country recognised by NURC (the National University Research Council) or abroad, scientific essays presented on the occasion of various sessions, symposiums, seminars etc. organised in the institution, inside the country and/or abroad, contracts, expertise, consultancy etc., on the basis of contracts or conventions concluded with partners inside the country and/or abroad, with evaluation certified by speciality commissions etc.




The faculty periodically organises with the teaching staff, researchers and graduates, scientific sessions, symposiums, conferences, round tables, while the reports are published in ISBN, ISSN scientific reports or in magazines dedicated to the organised activity.

The faculty owns an institutionalised scientific research centre.

The teaching and research staff is involved in national and international research grants.



With regard to teaching and research facilities

The higher education institution must prove that it has its own laboratories adequately equipped for all the disciplines.

The higher education institution must prove to have a library equipped with reading room and its own book stock according to the disciplines included in the educational curricula. The educational institution’s libraries must ensure a sufficient number of subscriptions to Romanian and foreign publications and periodicals, according to the assumed mission. An emphasis shall be put on the existence of speciality collections and the year of the collection’s initiation.


ARACIS already evaluated a number of 1539 master programs, at the request of the interested institutions, in view of accreditation.

Thank you for your attention

ARACIS March 01- 04, 2009 ENQA Workshop QUALITY ASSURANCE IN POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION.

Documents

external quality evaluation

higher education adoption

romanian universities

education law

quality culture

postgraduate education

european higher education

academic evaluation