Students as external evaluators in peer-review based EQA
Five years of student participation in the Institutional Evaluation Programme
Abstract
Student participation in quality assurance (QA) processes, and more particularly as evaluators in external QA, has been acknowledged in the European Standards and Guidelines since 2005. This paper examines the practice of involving students as part of the evaluators’ pool in the Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP). Following a pilot phase, IEP has been including students as peer team members in each evaluation since 2009. In addition, students are also present in the IEP Steering Committee.
After five years of collaboration between IEP and the European Students’ Union (ESU), student participation was assessed through surveys conducted among past and current student pool members as well as non-student pool members, complemented by interviews, including with institutions evaluated by IEP. Lines for reflection could include the further development of both the student experience within IEP and the Programme itself, but also, more generally, improving student involvement in QA.
This paper was presented at EQAF and reflects the views of the named authors only.
