The quality assurance system of Flanders
The NVAO ensures the quality of higher education in Flanders. To fulfil this role, the NVAO, in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders, designed the Flemish quality assurance system. This system comprises a coherent and structured set of review and assessment procedures applied by the NVAO.
A fundamental principle of the Flemish quality assurance system is that higher education institutions are accountable for the quality of their programmes. Through its quality assurance framework, the NVAO seeks to ensure transparency regarding educational quality while supporting institutions in maintaining and enhancing that quality.
The Flemish quality assurance system focuses on the quality of individual programmes and on accountability for that quality. Such accountability is demonstrated either through the accreditation of an existing programme or through an institutional review (for universities and universities of applied sciences). An institutional review provides universities and universities of applied sciences with the opportunity to demonstrate to the NVAO that they are capable of independently assuring the quality of their programmes. In addition, every new programme must be assessed by the NVAO before it can be offered. This assessment is known as the Initial Accreditation for New Programmes (toets nieuwe opleiding). Through these complementary procedures, the Flemish quality assurance system seeks to ensure both accountability and continuous quality enhancement across higher education.
The quality assurance system of Flanders is based on the following characteristics:
PEER REVIEW
External, independent experts (“peers”) are involved in each of the assessments, either through an assessment panel convened by the NVAO (or by another quality assurance agency), or through the institution itself. The NVAO sets great store by the involvement of experts from the professional field, educational experts, and students in the assessment of the quality of education.
PUBLIC INFORMATION
The information on the quality of programmes is public. The NVAO publishes its own assessment reports and decisions both on its own website and on the Higher Education Register. In addition, institutions publish information on the quality of each of their programmes on their websites. This information substantiates their accountability for their own quality assurance.
SYSTEM-WIDE ANALYSES
System-wide analyses are intended to map out and share good practices within the higher education community. This encourages institutions to learn from one another, specifically with respect to issues relating to educational policy and programme quality. The NVAO has published six system-wide analysis reports.
NVAO's APPRECIATIVE APPROACH
The NVAO procedures are based on trust, which vests a large measure of responsibility with the institutions. In order to have this perspective reflected in the assessment procedures, the NVAO has developed its Appreciative Approach. NVAO thus emphasises that each assessment is taking place within its own context and must be conducted in an open dialogue.
ACCREDITATION as A PRECONDITION FOR RECOGNISED DEGREES
The accreditation (or initial accreditation) of a programme is the precondition for awarding recognised associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees. These are the only programmes registered on the Higher Education Register and the only ones allowed to use academic titles. Only persons enrolled in such programmes qualify for the status of “student”.
Overview of the entire Flemish quality assurance system:
RECOGNISED HIGHER EDUCATION
Universities and university colleges
Universities and universities of applied sciences are solely responsible for confirming the quality of their programmes. They give account to society by publishing information on the quality of each NVAO accredited programme on their website. The institutional review assesses the manner in which a university or university college pursues its educational policy. Within its educational policy, each institution includes a conduct for confirming the quality of its programmes. This responsibility for confirming the quality of programmes applies to accredited programmes. For this reason, each new programme to be launched is first subjected to an initial accreditation, a procedure in which an external panel assesses the potential quality of the programme. The period of recognition as a new programme is followed by a fully-fledged programme accreditation: the official decision by NVAO that the programme meets predetermined requirements regarding quality and level. Following such programme accreditation (with a positive outcome), responsibility for confirming the quality of the programme is vested with the universities and universities of applied sciences themselves. Should an institutional review show a university’s or university college’s inability to confirm the quality of its accredited programmes, NVAO will regain this responsibility. The confirmation of quality will then be done by NVAO on a programme-by-programme basis. The initial accreditation and programme accreditation procedures are tailor-made: they are designed to optimally complement each institution’s conduct for confirming the quality of its other programmes. We here refer to conduct-tailored procedures.Other recognised institutions
All the other recognised higher education institutions give account of the quality of their programmes through the involvement of an external body. Each new programme to be launched is first subjected to an initial accreditation. Subsequently, it is subjected to periodic programme accreditations.
NON-RECOGNISED INSTITUTIONS
Non-recognised education providers may be registered by the Flemish Government as providers of recognised higher education programmes. Such recognition is based on a registration file, supplemented by a positive NVAO decision regarding the (potential) quality of the education they provide following the comprehensive initial accreditation of (at least one of) their programmes.