What is it about?

Higher Education Institutions (HEI) develop their various management systems to support processes and utilise several tools to improve the quality of the teaching and learning process and data management. HEI quality management system /QMS) architecture may vary. In general (and this also applies to Slovakia QMS), it has the following forms: (a) tailor-made to the institution’s needs and does not apply any ready-made model; (b) institution-specific but follows national quality assurance frameworks and guidelines; (c) a ready-made model such as ISO, EFQM, CAF, etc. Despite the fact that the majority of universities within the European Union (EU) utilise the centralised DIS, such systems consist of closed, independently working academic information systems (IS), library IS and administration and finance IS. Then we can implement QMS, for which ICT support is impacted by additional financing and difficulties related to management, updating and maintenance. Such QMS (which mainly use the ISO 9001 model, especially in Slovakia) are frequently discussed issues between users as well as uninvolved professionals and the public. The aim of the paper is to present an enhanced internal quality assurance model based on the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) principles, criteria for accreditation, and data management support in the web-based environment developed within the European Structural Fund (ESF) project.

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Why is it important?

The originality of the solution is that it connects the existing university QMS to the ESG standards and evaluation criteria for the internal system of quality assurance in HEIs in Slovakia. The case study showed that the utilisation of a web-based quality management system has many advantages in comparison to the existing decentralised data management system. A case study confirmed the feasibility of an enhanced quality assurance model utilisation and also revealed the possibility of the existing system of quality management improvement concerning the teaching and learning process.

Perspectives

The university has had the functioning in place for nearly ten years, regularly auditing management systems for all its branches by ISO 9001. The result is described as a case study, which also contains the TELOS feasibility study. As a method for obtaining inputs, literary research and interviews with students and other interested parties were used. The proposed enhanced quality assurance model shows the possibility of linking the revised standard ISO 9001:2015, the new Standards and Guidelines ESG, 2015 to Criteria for Assessing the internal system of quality assurance in HE

Prof., PhD. Kristina Zgodavova
Technical University of Kosice

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This page is a summary of: Enhancement of the Quality Assurance Model at the Slovak University: Case Study, Quality Innovation Prosperity, December 2015, Technical University of Kosice, Faculty of Manfacturing Technologies,
DOI: 10.12776/qip.v19i2.610.
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