Quality assurance conference

By Joachim Sloth Larsen

The quality assurance group at Ilisimatusarfik, consisting of Joachim Sloth Larsen and Professor Gestur Hovgaard, has just returned home from an inspiring and educational conference in Norway.

The conference aimed to strengthen knowledge sharing between the Nordic countries with a special focus on accreditation and quality assurance in accordance with “The Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area” (ESG 2015).

Martina Vukasovic delivered the keynote address at the conference, titled “Why QA Processes in Higher Education (Always) Result in Diverse and Unintended Outcomes”. Here, Vukasovic highlighted how national political, methodological and cultural differences create varying approaches and outcomes in quality assurance across countries. Vukasovic emphasized that these differences should often be considered a strength, as they contribute to a diversity of solutions and perspectives.

The conference brought together participants from the Nordic countries, Eastern Europe, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. From Greenland, representatives from Niuernermik Ilinniarfik; Perorsaanermik Ilinniarfik; Department of Education, Culture, Sports & Church - and of course Ilisimatusarfik participated.

The knowledge we bring home to Ilisimatusarfik is for example:

• Soon, the department will publish the new “Guidelines for internal quality assurance of teaching in higher education”. It is important to note that the development of the guidelines has been an inclusive process where we have experienced broad involvement and active participation.
• Our work with internal quality assurance at Ilisimatusarfik must be based on core values such as development and trust - not as a control tool.
• We need to develop a tailor-made model that fits our specific needs - which is why we are looking at the Icelandic quality assurance model. It is more relevant to our situation than the models from the larger Nordic countries such as Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. At the same time, we need to make sure that our model is adapted to our Greenlandic conditions.
• We need a completely transparent approach to the development of quality assurance and development tools. Getting input from our skilled lecturers is crucial - but it is equally important to actively involve our students in our entire quality assurance process.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that The Danish Accreditation Institution will be closed. For those with a special interest in quality assurance, accreditation and the latest news in the field, this means that accreditation work will become part of the Danish ministry's tasks regarding higher education.