GAVAR STATE UNIVERSITY

In-House Training

Development of State - of - the - Art HE Management System for Efficient

Changes in Line With Bologna Principles

Gavar - 2015

Re-visiting or reexamining the idea of university is certainly an exercise that improves the understanding of the role and the responsibilities of anybody involved in the governance of an autonomous and accountable institution of higher education.

Universities are “institutions that provide specially protected fora in which there is freedom to float, explore, criticize and teach theories and ideas of all sorts, fashionable and unfashionable, useful and useless’’.

The University Sector and The European Commission have all recognized that increasing university autonomy and accountability represents a crucial steps towards modernizing higher education in the 21th century.

University Autonomy and Accountability

Enhancement of Autonomy and Accountability of HEIs

The Autonomy and Accountability of HEIs is enhanced through: Building on the capacity of administrative staff for managing system

changes efficiently Revising the legal (system level) and regulatory (HEI level) frameworks in

line with Bologna action lines Establishing the state-of-the-art university management system through

overhaul of approaches to system changes: strategic, financial and human

resource management Introducing working approaches to student-centered educational

provisions: ECTS and academic programme management to assure quality

and promote student mobility.

AUTONOMY OF HEIs

The fact that university autonomy is adopted by most countries and inscribed in their constitutions, is a meaningful acknowledgment that institutional autonomy and academic freedom are intrinsic attributes of universities.

Stable national legislation and regulations on university autonomy and the corresponding understanding by stakeholders of the implications for the day to day life of institutions are critical factors to be adequately considered.

The triangle of academic freedom, institutional autonomy and accountability is one of the most important responsibilities of academics, governance bodies and stakeholders.

INCREASED AUTONOMY OF HEIs

Appropriate Organizational

Structures

Requirements for Increased

Autonomy

Involvementof External

Stakeholders

Appropriate Institutional Governance

Professionalization of All Staff

Strong Leadership

CURRENT CHALLENGES RELATED TO AUTONOMY AT INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL

The status of state non-profit organization deprives the university of being an independent educational institution.

Some laws, such as the Law on Procurement make certain restrictions for free economic management.

The impossibility of selecting and admitting students on its own, which is conditioned by centralized exams according to a joint order of higher education institutions.

The departmental regulations of the RA that limit the autonomy of universities, students transfer and disposal procedures, etc.

The impossibility of the implementation of a new, modern professional educational program by the university conditioned by the obligatory term to obtain a license by the Licensing authority of the RA Ministry of Education.

HEIs in RA: Institutional Level Governance

“The governance of HEIs at institutional level is based on the autonomy, by combining single and collegial principles, through implementing functions of the Governing Board (GB), Scientific Council and Rector's Office.”

“The higher education system is rather centralized with the faculties being dependent on the central structures with regards to planning and funding. The scope of responsibilities of the faculties is rather operational dealing with operational provisions for teaching, learning and research.”

“The leadership constitutes the Rector, Rector’s Office, Deans, and Chairs. The scope of the Dean’s responsibilities is limited to administrative, teaching, learning and research and for the Head of the chair it is limited to teaching, learning and research.”

SWOT Analyses: Institutional Level Governance

Based on recent SWOT analyses improvement should be achieved, for example, regarding to:

– Use of interactive teaching and learning methods

– Less interference of government

– Monitoring labor market

– Staff and student motivation and participation in governance bodies

– Mechanisms of programme implementation and periodic review

– ECTS in order to function as an accumulation and transfer system

– Mobility (both regulatory and administative barriers for inter university mobility in Armenia)

– Recognition (in international area)

– Expand academic freedom (choice of disciplines, specialities)

Bologna Requirements Degree system• Implementation of first, second and third cycle• Access to next cycle• Compliance with national qualifications framework Quality assurance• Internal and external quality assurance systems• Student and international participation• Recognition• Diploma supplement• Implementation of Lisbon Recognition Convention• Implementation of ECTS and modularisation• Prior learning Mobility Employability Lifelong learning Student-centered learning and teaching education

How to overcome the Bologna - related weaknesses?

The following actions could be helpful:

Consistent and coherent internal and external framework regulations, decided upon by the respective bodies (necessary, but not sufficient)

Intensive communication, meetings, trainings (staff and teachers), convincing arguments (fitness of purpose - fitness for purpose), transparency, inclusion of stakeholders

Strengthening the motivation by incentives (pooling of responsibility and decision making, reduction of teaching load, sabbatical, participation in international conferences, etc.)

MODULARISATION

In international Bologna-context modularisation means the paradigm-shift from teacher-centered teaching to student-oriented teaching and learning process by structuring the curriculum in respective modules. Thus, a module is more than only one course (lecture, seminar, exercise...).Courses connected by: content, simultanouously intended learning outcomes combining different types of student-centered teaching and learning units make a module.

MODULARISATION:PARADIGM SHIFT

Lecturer-oriented teaching Student-oriented teaching

Lecturer is the centre of attention Student is the centre of attention

Transmission of information by the lecturer Active knowledge acquisition by the student

The learning method is a general, firm and standardized one

There are different individual learning methods

Lecturer for the student Student is self-controlling

Lecturer explains the correct answers to the particular problems

Lecturer asks questions, which are answered by the students

Lecturer leads the learning process Lecturer accompanies the learning process

Lecture room as workshop Media library and group room as workshop

Static and invariable Dynamic and variable

Lecturer and student stand opposite one another

Lecturer and student work together

Programme planning is adapted to the examinations

Programme planning is adapted to feedback

Student can isolate himself/herself and can turn up from time to time

Social competences gain importance

Lectures Discussions

Assessment on the basis of an exam Continuous assessment

Timetable Programme plan

ECTS AND MODULES

The award of credits does not depend on an examination, but on the successful completion of the module in question. The requirements for the award of credits are to be set out clearly and comprehensibly in the study and examination regulations (and the accreditation) documents. To avoid excessively small modules, which also generate a heavy examination burden, modules should account for at least five ECTS credits.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE MODULE

The Aim of a module or programme is a broad general statement of teaching intention, i.e. it indicates what the teacher intends to cover in a programme, module or learning activity.

Example of aim: To give students an introduction to managerial accounting.

The objective of a module or programme is a specific statement of teaching intention, i.e. it indicates one of the specific areas that the teacher intends to cover.

Example of objective: Give students an appreciation of the elements of managerial accounting.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Definition: Statements of what a learner is expected to understand, apply, analyze, describe and/or be able to demonstrate etc. after completion of a process of learning (module).

According to the Bologna-Implementation Report 2012 (p. 50) there is a specific Armenian national definition of LO: “General measurable results of learning process that allow higher education institutions to assess whether students have developed the required competence”.

It may be reviewed, whether it is compatible with the more widely adopted definition.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Describe what a student is expected to know, understand, apply, analyse, describe… and/or be able to demonstrate at the end of a study programme (on a general level) and at the end of each module (on a detailed level) and thereby the qualification. Help academic staff to focus on what they want students to achieve in terms of both knowledge and skills, implementing the “Bologna-process paradigm shift” from teacher oriented teaching to student centered teaching and learning Provide a useful guide to inform potential candidates and employers about the general knowledge and understanding that a graduate will possess (important for the labor market, i.e. employability of graduates).

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The use of learning outcomes is intimately linked to the adoption of student centered learning.

Learning outcomes are an integral part of outcome-focused approach to teaching, learning and assessment.

The role of the teacher moves towards being a facilitator/manager of the learning process.

Learning outcomes relate to external reference points (qualifications descriptors, levels, levels descriptors) that constitute „new style“ qualification frameworks.

Employ active verbs (see Bloom’s taxonomy: knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation)

Emphasise the teaching-learning-assessment relationship Learning outcomes are often expressed in terms of

competences/qualifications.

ECTS ESSENTIALS

ECTS is a tool that helps to design, describe, and deliver programmes and award higher education qualifications.

The use of ECTS, in conjunction with outcomes-based qualifications frameworks, makes programmes and qualifications more transparent and facilitates the recognition of qualifications.

ECTS can be applied to all types of programmes, whatever their mode of delivery (school-based, work-based), the learners’ status (ful-time, part-time) and to all kinds of learning (formal, non-formal and informal).

ECTS is a learner-centred system for credit accumulation and transfer based on the transparency of learning outcomes and learning processes. It aims to facilitate planning, delivery, evaluation, recognition and validation of qualifications and units of learning as wel as student mobility.

ECTS credits are based on the workload students need in order to achieve expected learning outcomes.

ECTS ESSENTIALS

Workload indicates the time students typicaly need to complete all learning activities (such as lectures, seminars, projects, practical work, self-study and examinations) required to achieve the expected learning outcomes.

60 ECTS credits are atached to the workload of a fultime year of formal learning (academic year) and the associated learning outcomes. In most cases, student workload ranges from 1,500 to 1,800 hours for an academic year, whereby one credit corresponds to 25 to 30 hours of work.

Credits are alocated to entire qualifications or study programmes as well as to their educational components (such as modules, course units, dissertation work, work placements and laboratory work).

The number of credits ascribed to each component is based on its weight in terms of the workload students need in order to achieve the learning outcomes in a formal context.

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