The Bologna Process promotes competence-based higher education in the European Higher Education Area. Accordingly, many institutions are focusing on students’ competences and have implemented competence-based higher education. Internal quality management procedures for higher education also need to take this trend into account. Internal quality management should focus on student competences and competence-based higher education.

The idea behind the European Toolkit is the Procedure for Internal Quality Management in Competence-Based Higher Education, which we call the IQM Procedure.

The proposed procedure consists of three steps.

1. Define competences

Define the intended competences and competence levels that students acquire through a specific study programme. Summarise these in the form of a competence model.

2. Screen competences

Collect screening information on the competence-based teaching and learning process as well as on student competences.

3. Enhance competences

Go into detail of the teaching and learning process and analyse the screening information with regard to the different elements of the teaching and learning process. The elements include curriculum, teaching methods and assessment methods, students’ learning strategies, and the context. Develop quality enhancement and assurance measures based on the analyses.

For detailed information, please refer to the Handbook for Internal Quality Management in Competence-Based Higher Education.

Coordinator, expert partner & implementation partner

Veterinary University of Vienna, Austria

• Mag. Dr. Evelyn Steinberg (née Bergsmann)
• Dr. Monika Finsterwald (MSc)
• Dr.phil. Ursula M. Schober
• Nevena Jankovic (MSc)
• Georg Csukovich (MSc)

Implementation partners

Vilnius University, Lithuania

• Dr. Daiva Lepaite (MSc)
• Dr. Agnė Brilingaitė (PhD)

University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Romania

• Ass. Prof. Sorin Daniel DAN, DVM, MSc, PhD
• Referent in Education, Simona Oros, PhD

University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

• Ass. Prof. Dr. Jelka Zabavnik Piano (DVM, MSc)
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Breda Jakovac Strajn (DVM, MSc)
• Assist. Jana Brankovic (DVM, PhD)
• Tatjana Penšek Slivar

University of Oldenburg, Germany

• Prof. Dr. Heinke Röbken
• Jasmin Overberg (MA)
• Andrea Broens (MA)

Expert partners

University of Vienna, Austria

• Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dr. Christiane Spiel
• Dr. Julia Klug (MSc)
• Mag. Dr. Marie-Therese Schultes

European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA)

• Maria Kelo
• Anaïs Gourdin
• Lindsey Kerber

Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria (AQ Austria)

• Dr. Achim Hopbach
• Dr. Kristina Svensson (MA)
• Frances Blüml (MA)

European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE)

• Prof Ana María Bravo Moral, DVM. PhD.
• Prof Petr Horin, DVM. PhD.
• Laura Pohl (BA)

University of Economics and Business, Vienna

• Dr. Karl Ledermülller
• Julia Zeeh (MA)
• Philipp Keller (MA)

• The Handbook provides you with a procedure for internal quality management in competence-based higher education. It was developed by leading experts in the field.
• The Instructions to Implement the European Toolkit provides an overview of all tools developed. It contains instructions to help persons in charge of internal quality management in competence-based higher education implement the IQM Procedure. The described tools have been tested in practice and adapted in alignment with lessons learned. They comprise templates for workshops, questionnaires, reports, and information materials.
• The tools themselves are available for free online on the Erasmus+ platform for project results.
  Go to http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects
  Enter the project title ‘Internal Quality Management: Evaluating and Improving Competence-Based Higher Education’ in the search bar to get to the project website.

The European Toolkit for Internal Quality Management was developed during the course of the project “Internal Quality Management: Evaluating and Improving Competence-Based Higher Education (IQM-HE)” from 2015 to 2018.

For more information on the project please click here.

Quality management often runs the risk of producing big data sets and detailed reports that are little used for quality assurance. The IQM Procedure also expends considerable effort collecting data and producing a thorough report. However, the internal quality management procedure also expends considerable effort on actually using the report: The conduction of the procedure should lead to a concrete enhancement of the study programme.

In this section, the project’s implementation partners provide examples of competence models, executive summaries of their screening reports, and ideas for concrete measures to assure and enhance the quality of their study programs based on their screening data.

In addition, the project evaluator of the project provides recommendations derived from the implementation partners’ experience.

Competence Model

• Competence Model_Uni AT
• Competence Model_Uni SI
• Competence Model_Uni DE
• Competence Model_Uni RO
• Competence Model_Uni LT

Executive Summary

• Executive Summary_Uni AT
• Executive Summary_Uni SI
• Executive Summary_Uni DE
• Executive Summary_Uni RO
• Executive Summary_Uni LT

Ideas for Measures

• Collected Measures after Competence Screening

Recommendations from the evaluators perspective

• Creating a Competence Model and Conducting Screenings-Lessons Learnt

Workshops

Preusche, I. & Steinberg (neé Bergsmann) E. (2019). How to evaluate and improve Higher Education: Defining, screening and enhancing students’ competences. Workshop at the International Association for Medical Education (AMEE) 2019 conference, Vienna, August 24.

IQM-HE. (2018). Internal Quality Management in Competence-Based Higher Education. Workshop held at the 4th International Conference on Quality Management and Development in the Field of Higher Education [Internationale Tagung des Österreichischen Netzwerks für Qualitätsmanagement und Qualitätsentwicklung im Hochschulbereich], Vienna, Austria, February 15-16.

Zabavnik Piano, J., Jakovac Strajn, B., Brankovič, J., & Lukša, N. (2018). The European Toolkit for Internal Quality Management in Competence-Based Higher Education – How to motivate stakeholders. Workshop held at the International Scientific Conference ‘Internationalisation Enhancing Quality of Learning and Teaching‘, Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia, March 2.

Finsterwald, M., Ledermüller, K., Overberg, J., Zeeh, J., & Bergsmann, E. (2017). The European Toolkit for Internal Quality Management in Competence-Based Higher Education. An application-oriented workshop. Workshop held at the 12th European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF), Riga, Latvia, November 23-25.

Presentations

Finsterwald, M., Klug, J., Ledermüller, K., Zeeh, J., Keller, P., & Bergsmann, E. (2018). Implementation of the European Toolkit for Internal Quality Management in Competence-Based Higher Education. Paper presented at the 40th Annual Forum of The European Higher Education Society: Linking research, policy and practice (EAIR), Budapest, Hungary, August 26-29.

Finsterwald, M. (2018). Internal Quality Management: Evaluating and Improving Higher Education. Paper presented at the 31th General Assembly of the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE), Hannover, Germany, June 1.

Overberg, J., Broens, A., Günther, A., Stroth, C., Knecht, R., Golba, M. & Röbken, H. (2017): A new internal quality management procedure in competence-based higher education – A pilot study developed with the Postgraduate Programme Renewable Energy. Paper presented a the 12th International Symposium on Renewable Energy Education. Strömstad, June, 19-21.

Papers related to IQM-HE

Bergsmann, E., Klug, J., Burger, C., Först, N., & Spiel, C. (2018). The competence screening questionnaire for higher education: Adaptable to the needs of a study programme. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 43, 537-554. doi: 10.1080/02602938.2017.1378617

Bergsmann, E., Schultes, M.-T., Winter, P., Schober, B., & Spiel C. (2015). Evaluation of competence-based teaching in higher education: From theory to practice. Evaluation and Program Planning, 52, 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2015.03.001