The process which will hopefully lead to the much-coveted institutional accreditation of Aarhus University will soon be entering a new phase. But why is the new accreditation important, and what will be happening in the coming months?

2016.02.05 | Thomas Sørensen

AU is currently working on a self-evaluation report for accreditation. Photo: Søren Kjeldgaard

From agrobiology to theology: Aarhus University offers a whole host of very different degree programmes.

However, the two have at least one thing in common: Each degree programme has been through a comprehensive accreditation process which has ended with approval by the Danish Accreditation Council.

However, the accreditation of individual degree programmes may soon be a thing of the past if Aarhus University receives positive institutional accreditation at the end of the current accreditation process. The decision will be made in 2017.

In the long term, this should mean greater freedom and less bureaucracy for the university in the field of education, says Pro-rector Berit Eika, who is in charge of the institutional accreditation process at AU.

Quality system is a framework

“The idea behind the new Accreditation Act is to assign more responsibility for quality assurance to the individual institution. It will, for example, mean greater freedom to adjust and tailor the individual degree programmes without having to seek external approval every time,” says Berit Eika. However, she makes no secret of the fact that the documentation required under the new form of accreditation is still considerable:

“All in all, it should reduce the paperwork involved, and the minister for higher education and science has at the same time expressed a willingness to relax some of the other control systems to which we are subject. In practice, the result will be greater flexibility because quality assurance will to a higher extent be an internal matter and one we are free to plan ourselves. However, institutional accreditation is not going to mean a lowering of academic standards. Moreover, due to the degree of transparency required both by society in general and by politicians, we will still be documenting our quality assurance activities to quite a significant extent.”

Even though the granting of institutional accreditation very much hinges on Aarhus University’s quality assurance system being approved, Berit Eika stresses that it is after all not the system in itself which is the most important thing:

“In such a process, there is always a danger of becoming so totally absorbed in all the documentation and systematics that you lose sight of the bigger picture.  The quality system can be viewed as a framework for helping us to structure our perspective on problems and potentials. It is an important foundation for our efforts. But the real lifeblood is our students, staff and managers. It is they who inject life and nerve and perspective into our programmes. It is their creativity and dedicated efforts which guarantee quality. This is what our quality management system must support.”

Expert panel visits AU

The Danish Accreditation Institution recently visited AU for an initial meeting, and the next phase of the process starts in April when the university submits its so-called self-evaluation report, which describes and documents the university’s quality system and policies.

The senior management team is responsible for the report, and both the faculties and AU Student Administration and Services are involved in the work. However, so far, only a relatively small circle of employees have been directly involved. 

This circle will, however, be broadened when the expert panel appointed by the Danish Accreditation Institution pays two site visits to Aarhus University to follow up on the self-evaluation report. During the visits, the panel will be talking with, among others, students, staff, managers and representatives of employers’ panels about the way in which the university’s quality system works in practice. The first visit will last for two days, while the panel will be spending the second five-day visit investigating a number of selected topics in greater detail.

After the meetings, the accreditation panel will draft the final report, which will be submitted for consultation at the university before being sent to the Accreditation Council, which makes the final decision. 

The final decision will probably be made in June 2017. 

Critical analysis is the university’s DNA

“Writing the self-evaluation report is a very comprehensive task,” explains Berit Eika. “Not because we have to reinvent ourselves; in fact, it is mostly a question of describing and documenting what we do already. The quality system to a very large extent builds on our existing culture. But Aarhus University is a large institution with a history of mergers behind it, and given the wide range of degree programmes on offer, there are a lot of practices to cover.”

However, Berit Eika is keen to point out that the process itself is helping to strengthen the shared understanding of quality assurance and creating a focus on ensuring management support, involvement and documentation across the university:

“A critical and analytical approach of the world around us is deeply ingrained in the university’s DNA. This is what our researchers and students do every day. This particular process involves looking at ourselves and our own quality system, and we need to demonstrate our ability to do just that. Excellence in education does not happen of its own accord, and the accreditation process must document that we have a system and a culture which support us in our ongoing self-appraisal.”