Author: Robert Wagenaar (Coordinator CALOHEE project; University of Groningen)
We have the pleasure to inform you about the outcomes of the EU supported project Measuring and Comparing Achievements of Learning Outcomes in Higher Education in Europe (CALOHEE) in which ECA was a Partner.
Quality assurance at degree programme level suffers from a lack of international agreed reference points. Reference points which offer clear indicators for appropriate and relevant higher education learning.
Developed by groups of international experts from Higher Education institutions based in 28 countries, involving students and key stakeholders, the CALOHEE project has produced instruments which offer international agreed reference frameworks. These frameworks, for five pilot subject areas representing the five main educational sectors, are designed to be of service in quality assurance and accreditation procedures, as well as a reference instrument for Higher Education institutions.
The project also involved the following university associations and organisations as partners: the University Networks of Coimbra, Santander, UNICA, Utrecht, Compostela; European Student Union (ESU); European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE); European Consortium for Accreditation in Higher Education (ECA); European Network for Accreditation of Engineering Education (ENAEE); European Federation of National Engineers Associations (FEANI); European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA). And as members of its advisory board: European University Association (EUA); Akkreditierungs-agentur für Studiengänge der Ingenieurwissenschaften, der Informatik, der Naturwissen-schaften und der Mathematik (ASIIN); European Alliance for Subject Specific and Professional Accreditation and Quality Assurance (EASPA); European Association for International Education (EAIE); U-Multirank; Academic Cooperation Association (ACA); ENIC-NARICs and BIBB (HE-VET).
We expect that these new state-of -the-art instruments will have a serious impact on the design, implementation, delivery, assessment and enhancement of higher education degree programmes. The reference frameworks are forward-looking, taking into account future developments encompassing preparation for the world of work and civic, social and cultural engagement. The frameworks presented are based on a merger of the Qualifications Framework of the European Higher Education Area (QF of the EHEA) and the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (EQF for LLL). This makes them very powerful and relevant instruments for quality assurance.
For more detail, we refer to the attached Press Release and to the CALOHEE website. As an example of the work established we attach the CALOHEE Subject Area Qualifications Reference Frameworks publication.
Please feel free to contact the CALOHEE Project team for further information (calohee@rug.nl).
