14 November 2018 | EQAF Paper

Internal QA Policies across the Full Spectrum of Institutional Activities

David O’Sullivan (National University of Ireland Galway), Orla Lynch (Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI))

Quality and quality assurance (QA) is everyone’s responsibility. In a higher education institution (HEI) this includes all teaching, research and support staff. Students also play a key role mainly through feedback but increasingly as active participants in governance and quality review.


QA in Europe is defined by the Standards and guidelines for quality assurance in the EHEA (ESG) that provide guidance to HEI’s when developing their own internal policies and procedures. The scope includes mainly teaching, services and quality monitoring but in many HEIs this scope is now increasing to include activities such as research, gender and equality, collaborative partnerships and other processes.

This paper studies the broadening scope of QA in HEIs from two perspectives - a national QA agency and a large HEI – both based in Ireland. Early findings suggest that broadening the scope of QA to new processes that staff and students value, enhances quality culture. 

This paper was presented at EQAF and reflects the views of the named authors only.

ISSN: 1375-3797 

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