Today the Quality Assessment Council of Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency (EKKA) adopted the document on the institutional accreditation of Estonian institutions of higher education, to be started this year. The new procedure will replace the previous model of study programme accreditation, with a greater emphasis placed on assessment of higher education institutions as a whole.
Heli Mattisen, Director of EKKA, a structural unit of the Archimedes Foundation, said that the new system will preclude cases potentially leading to difficulties experienced by students whose study programme receives a negative accreditation. “The positive results gained by institutional accreditation give us a reasonable basis to trust an internal quality culture of our higher education institutions, and thus there is no need to carry out separate assessments for every single study programme,“ Mattisen said.
Institutional accreditation of all higher education institutions is carried out at least once in seven years. The first institutions of higher education to be accredited are the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences and the Estonian University of Life Sciences, with accreditations taking place in autumn 2011 and spring 2012 respectively.
Institutional accreditation is carried out by a commission of predominantly international experts, who assess the compliance of administrative capability, work organisation, education and research activities and the related environment of a higher education institution with legislation, the institution’s general aims and development plan.
The conditions and procedure for institutional accreditation were developed in cooperation with the parties most interested in higher education quality assessment in accordance with legislation and strategies regulating higher education both in Estonia and in Europe.
EKKA is a structural unit of the Archimedes Foundation aiming to foster the quality of Estonian higher education and to promote the best practices in quality assurance.
For further information, please contact:
Heli Mattisen, Director of EKKA, heli.mattisen@archimedes.ee, phone: (+372) 517 8197
Märt Miljan, Head of Communications, Archimedes Foundation, (+372) 521 5767