QUEST for Quality for Students: Institutional Analysis. Volume 2, Part 2
Author: Saarela, Henni
Date: 2013-10-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Educational Quality,Higher Education,College Students,Foreign Countries,Quality Assurance,Surveys,Student Organizations,Focus Groups,Case Studies,Access to Information,Student Attitudes,Questionnaires,Student Characteristics,Student Motivation,Expectation,Academic Freedom,Correlation,College Choice,Role of Education,Student Needs,Grounded Theory

This publication is the second part of Volume 2 of the project called &quot;QUEST for Quality for Students&quot;, or &quot;QUEST&quot; for short, run by the European Students' Union (ESU). It follows-up on the research work that has been completed in the last three years, the results of which are presented in Volume 1 and the first part of Volume 2. Quality assurance has been at the core in constructing the European Higher Education Area since the very beginning of the building process. It serves as a tool for trust, enhancing compatibility of degrees across Europe, increasing academic mobility and fostering a sense of belonging to a community. As a result, the cooperation among European nations in the field of quality assurance has increased in recent years. The modernisation agenda of the European Union notes that quality assurance is a powerful tool for reaching institutional changes. However, there is still work to be done. A significant area in quality assurance that still requires further development is the involvement of students. This area is often neglected, as students are rarely asked about their views on the quality of higher education, especially in relation to any reforms in that field. The three-year project called QUEST for Quality for Students, or QUEST for short, examines these developments from the students' point of view. This second part of Volume II outlines the main conceptual and political developments from key institutional viewpoints to broader stakeholder perspectives on quality assurance. It looks more closely at how students form and conceptualise quality and student participation and how these perceptions affect the overall discussion on quality assurance in higher education in Europe. The premise is that results can be used to develop and enhance the involvement of students in quality assurance processes at institutional, national and European levels. This publication presents a bulk of the in-depth qualitative research conducted during the QUEST project. Approximately fifteen institutional site visits and around fifty interview sessions with student focus groups, student representatives and university staff and management, were conducted in five different European countries. The main topics of discussion were perceptions on quality, quality assurance in higher education, and student participation. The site visits were conducted in collaboration with local student communities with a representative from the QUEST project helping to coordinate the interview processes. In addition, broader stakeholder perceptions on ongoing developments in quality and quality assurance in higher education were collected at a stakeholder conference held in Malta in 2012. Key stakeholders of representative bodies in higher education in Europe were present at the conference. In the publication, the results of the stakeholder conference are presented in the form of a report called &quot;Where are we now and where are we heading? General report on a stakeholders' consultation conference in Malta 30 Nov-1 Dec 2012.&quot; The following chapter, named &quot;Pan-European case study: Conceptualising student perspectives on quality and quality assurance in higher education in Europe,&quot; presents the findings of the institutional site visits. The data collected during the institutional site visits was analysed using the grounded theory approach, which investigates meanings and concepts as used by social actors in their real settings. Through this method, it was possible to identify the common threads and visible frameworks from the inductive analysis. A model for pursuing quality emerges from the institutional site-visit data, which transcends simply by listing attributes of quality in higher education as they are perceived by students. Focusing on the wider student-based perspective, this model views quality as a process centred on students' expectations and how they are met. This process, or set of processes, incorporates not only the attributes associated with quality, but also the basic elements of quality. These elements, or principles and values necessary in building quality in higher education, are trust, participation and ownership. It was found that these elements are interlinked, forming a progressive process from trust to partnership all the way to ownership, which is integral to the successful implementation of quality assurance activities and quality culture. The findings of this study give a new insight into students' perceptions on quality and patterns relating to student participation in quality assurance in a pan-European context. The main findings of this publication have been compiled at the end in order to enhance its usability for readers, identifying key development areas for enhancing student participation and quality assurance in higher education in Europe in general. The following are appended: (1) QUEST Consultation Conference with Stakeholders and (2) Site Visit Guidelines. [For Volume 1 of the series, see ED539505; For Volume 2, Part 1 of the series, see ED572745.