"Lack of true student involvement"
At the moment, there are several policy instruments in place that support improvements of the quality of higher education on an ongoing basis. However, according to the European Students Union (ESU) there is still a clear lack of true student involvement in this area. The recently started ESU project dubbed 'QUEST' intends to change this.
QUEST project
ESU has started the QUEST project in 2011 which, in the next two years, will try to find a concept of quality that gives a better answer to the learner-centred high quality model of higher education students in Europe. This idea of a student quality concept can bring revolutionary change in the field of quality in terms of transcending the discussion surrounding quality assurance and information provisin to reflect the views of students as the main benefactors rather than other actors.
Below you can find ESU's press releases and articles about the QUEST project so far:
- ESU targets lack of student involvement with quality assurance project 'QUEST' - http://www.esu-online.org/news/article/6001/208/ (27 January 2011)
- "European higher education in need of transparency" - http://www.esu-online.org/news/article/6001/468/ (28 April 2011)
- “No coherent mechanism to identify student view on quality assurance” - http://www.esu-online.org/news/article/6001/520/ (24 August 2011)
Co-financed
The QUEST project is co-financed with help from the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme.
Transparancy
The project "Quest for Quality for Students-QUEST” stresses that student should also be able to control the sources of information based on which they make their choices, thus we have also included this aspect of transparency. If mobility is a serious commitment, we need to back it up with clear policy that is drawn directly from the students.
Change perceptions
The main innovation of the project, being the survey, will definitely change perceptions of policy makers and will contribute strongly to building a common European Higher Education Area by promoting availability of new modes of information and more evidence based policy making.
Project aim and objectives
The main aim of the project is to identify students’ views on quality of higher education in a pan-European perspective. This aim is subdivided into four objectives:
- to identify what information students see as important to be provided to them from the side of higher education institutions and comparing this to existing modes of information provision. Create student centred models of meaningful information provision according to the identified students’ needs;
- to compare and see how the students’ views to the already existing and implicit transparency tools like Quality Assurance (with European Standards and Guidelines and UNESCO/OECD guidelines and EQAR and Qrossroads) as well as various information databases complement the findings. To identify what are strengths and weaknesses of those and identify how quality defined through students eyes could be reached and assured;
- to develop practical capacity building tools to strengthen and empower meaningful student participation in quality enhancement and assurance processes;
- to provide ESIB and student unions with capacity to multiply the knowledge and support European cooperation in quality assurance on the national level and to strengthen ESIB’s network of student experts on quality assurance.
Main target groups
Main target groups of the QUEST project are students, and in particular student representatives in national and local student unions (about 300 representatives), national associations of students, leadership and academic and in particular quality assurance staff at higher education institutions, stakeholders in higher education: organisations/associations working on QA, higher education institution (HEI) associations, experts on quality issues and policy-makers
Project Partners:
The QUEST project is carried out by ESIB (ESU) together with three other partners about whom you can find more information below:
1. The Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education Aracis (Romania). Aracis is a quality assurance agency established in 2006, as the lawful successor of the National Countil for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation.
2. National Union of Students Scotland - student participation in quality Scotland - sparqs (UK). Sparqs is a national development agency that assists universities, colleges and students' associations to define, share, improve and create practices and cultures that successfully embed partnerships between students and their institutions that will enhance the quality of the learning experience.
3. Freie Zusammenschluss von StudentInnenschaften – fzs (Germany). The free association of local student union bodies (fzs) is the non-partisan umbrella organisation of student representatives in Germany. With about 80 member student unions, fzs represents approximately one million students in Germany.
Past events
13 - 16 July, Edingburgh, UK - QUEST Workshop