Quality issues in European Higher Education ODL

In the recent years, e-learning has been widespread and almost each Higher Education Institution has adopted this teaching and learning modality in several ways and at different levels of implication. The second step concerns the design and the development of quality in e-learning. This topic has acquired a relevant importance and it is expected to focus efforts in this way in the forthcoming period. Quality must not stay anymore a concept at the level of mere bureaucracy generation or political intentions. It must signify something real that assures effective and measured results which will facilitate the training institutions to go further in their tasks. The E-Quality Project is focused in the “teaching and learning” quality dimension in order to be a pragmatic tool that helps improving the day by day work of the e-learning stakeholders.

The actual European scenario introduces important similarities considering the contextual and the political for Higher Education institutions in quality terms.  In analyzing the European context we found out that:

• Costs are growing up due the increasing number of students
• Economical restrictions imply a better efficiency
• Universities are called by the society to enhance the social development
• Internationalizing of training demand
• Students as clients have the right of being informed and attended
• Universities as a public service must prove quality in their performances

On the other hand the Bologna Process, that will conclude with a common European space for higher education will permit the creation of a unique market where training institutions for all around the continent would compete and consequently “quality” will become a standing out factor of success or failure. Keeping in mind this market and his vast territorial dimension, the e-learning option it seems a very convenient alternative to transmit knowledge for faraway students because it make possible to overcome geographic distances, barring out the frontier of space.

European Union, through forming scientific programme profiles, looks forward the concentration of the European research into several areas. Question of quality is one of the most significant research areas among ODL. This problem has become the main subject for project e-Quality.

According to Bologna Process specification (June 1999) quality is subject of fundamental mechanisms related with creation of European Area of Higher Education to be finalized in 2010. This course of action was confirmed during meetings in Prague (May 2001), in Berlin (September 2003) where quality issues were explicitly addressed and, finally in Bergen (May 2005) where decisions were taken, structuring the foundation of herein discussed mechanism. In particular ¹:

• "there should be encouragement of a culture of quality within higher education institutions"
• "institutions should be able to demonstrate their quality at home and internationally"
• "the interests of students and other stakeholders such as labour market representatives should be at the forefront of external quality assurance processes"

To make this possible, a set of ingredients are needed such as standards, models or even an infrastructure where to hold the national agencies, the university departments, associations, central bureau, etc.

First of all, the role of standards helps in two ways. On one hand standards permit to check our training praxis in order to evaluate and then improve. And on the other hand standards help fitting the Bologna process by obtaining a common educative model.

Another highlight point that requires a common agreement is the credits, the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). It deals with some key points to reach the above described scenario. For instance it enhances a better understanding and comparison of the different educational programmes by establishing pedagogical objectives in terms of competences and the elaboration of study guides that permit step by step a clear accomplishment of the proposed objectives that are always centred in the student workload. Secondly, this credit system also stimulates the academic recognition among different university studies which is an indispensable fact for the “European Higher Education Area”. And the last key point of the ECTS represents a good way to force universities revising their courses and praxis in order to improve and be ready.

The existence of different quality models (ISO, EFQM, TQM , etc) serves as a reference for those institutions to be engaged in this matter. This involvement may differ from one institution to another by a wide range of considerations. To began, it depends on the adopted theoretical options; the most frequents are the cited International Standards Organisation (ISO), the European Foundation for the Quality management (EFQM) or the Total Quality Management (TQM). Nevertheless, any organisation must undertake the quality perspective subtended by the selected model. In this sense, the organization must choose a specific path in which all the actions in the field will be centered on students, teachers, institution or social agent. Another variable that influence performances within quality is the ambit that introduces some different possibilities; quality can be orientated to the institution, the courses or programmes or merely to materials or any other evaluative object applied. And lastly, the approach can be different too, the decision can consider the technology, the economy, the pedagogy or it can be a mixture of them, so the approach would be global.

Of course the selected theoretical model, the ambits, perspectives and approaches can be mixed up allocating each institution in a wide range of ways. Again it is important to notice that the “E-Quality Project” deals with “teaching and learning” trying to become a guide for this principal dimension.

Anyhow within this higher and global competitive scenario called “European Higher Education Area”, rapid innovations, changes in technology and work processes are going to be a constant as in the rest of our society, higher education institutions are not an exception and the quality approach is a very essential point to allow real excellent organizations reaching excellent results. This description contrasts with the situation nowadays where end users do not have clear ways of assessing their praxis in quality terms; the E-Quality Project is devoted to this purpose.

1. "Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area", 2005, pp. 13-15