Quality Strategy

KAZDUAL – Implementing dual system in Kazakhstan

(618835-EPP-1-2020-1-KZ-EPPKA2-CBHE-SP)

15.01.2021 – 14.01.2024

Project Coordinator: Laura Khassenova (SKSU)

Prepared by: TKTK & IQAA

Delivery date: M3 – March 2021

Summary

The document presents Quality plan developed in the frames of Work Package 4 of the project and prepared by TKTK and IQAA. Quality plan covers the following tasks: implementation of internal quality tools, monitoring of the project progress and external monitoring and control

This document needs to be updated on a regular basis

The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the content, which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction. 3

2. Implementation of internal quality tools. 4

2.1 Responsibilities. 4

2.2 Organization of the internal QA process. 4

2.3 SWOT-analysis. 5

3. Monitoring of the project progress. 5

3.1 Questionnaire. 5

4. Pilot accreditation of the programs. 6

4.1 Standards and criteria for program accreditation of dual educational programs. 6

4.2 Stages of the external review.. 7

5. External monitoring and control 9

5.1 Monitoring of the effectiveness of the provided deliverables. 9

5.2 Monitoring of the quality of the process. 11

5.3 Monitoring of the effective implementation of the project 11

1. Introduction

«KAZDUAL – Implementing dual structure in Kazakhstan» is a three-year project co-funded by the Capacity Building in Higher Education programme (Erasmus plus). The project started in January 2021 and will finish in January 2023.

The broad goal of the project is to improve the competencies of higher education graduates in Kazakhstan through pilot programs following a dual system according to the needs of employers so that HEIs increase the employability of graduates and improve cooperation with the private sector.

KAZDUAL includes as partners Higher education institutions from 4 partner countries: Kazakhstan, Germany, Estonia and Austria; 2 TVET organizations from Kazakhstan. The project’s specific target groups are academic staff/lecturers/HE QA accreditation reviewers/technicians/instructional designers and students.

KAZDUAL project is coordinated by the M. Auezov South Kazakhstan State University (SKSU), Kazakhstan, Shymkent. KAZDUAL multi-actor partnership is composed of 7 partners among universities, 2 accreditation agencies, the Ministry of education and science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2 colleges and 1 network of quality assurance.

When looking at Quality Assurance in KAZDUAL as a concept, it can be understood to comprise of the levels of content, systems and policies. As a project, KAZDUAL can provide the partner country institutions and educational administration representatives a framework, general and specific actions as well as recommendations to develop quality in dual system. However, the project cannot fulfill the entire cycle of quality assurance in dual system in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh universities need to use these affordances to continue to develop their Quality Assurance functions in accordance with national and international standards, and in due time, to engage in auditing and accreditation activities with their respective QA and accreditation institutions.

The Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) describes the quality and evaluation methodology, using process and product quality factors which in turn will be mapped to questionnaires, in order to produce measurable results.

Based on the QAP, internal and external quality assurance processes will be put in place in order to continuously monitor parameters that are vital for project success. This monitoring will be made possible through a multi-level QA structure:

- An internal QA team (QAT) responsible for performing Q&A

- External quality control procedures, which will be implemented by the External evaluators who act as an external monitor of the evaluation processes already embedded in the project structure.

2. Implementation of internal quality tools

2.1 Responsibilities

2.1.1. Grand holder is responsible for the quality of the overall outcomes of the KAZDUAL project.

2.1.2 All project partners are responsible for the quality of all information input and following deadlines.

2.1.3. Every KAZDUAL project participant is responsible for carrying out the relevant tasks of project in line with the Project Application Document and following the best practices in highest possible quality level in the implementation process.

2.1.4. If necessary, the Grant holder or WP4 leaders of the KAZDUAL will select relevant experts from partner organizations for securing the high quality of project deliveries. These experts will report to the WP6 and Steering committee.

2.2 Organization of the internal QA process

2.2.1 QA project team will continuously follow the progress of implementing activities and tasks of KAZDUAL. Results will be documented periodically according to the KAZDUAL project Work plan. Each partner has an activity leader who is responsible for ensuring all deliverables and altogether they will form a Quality Assurance Team.

Table 1. Quality Assurance Team

2.2.2 All partners' input (including deliveries, other planned activity reports) will be assessed inside the Quality Assurance Team to ensure that the KAZDUAL application results are achieved.

2.2.3 To follow the philosophy of KAZDUAL and facilitate the implementation process as a joint effort, all deliveries and activity reports will go through a round of comments by all project partners. If necessary, common understanding will be achieved by communication and finalised by Grand holder and/or WP6.

2.3 SWOT-analysis

2.3.1 The primary approach to assessing internal quality of the KAZDUAL project will be the self-assessment method through SWOT analysis.

2.3.2 WP leaders perform a SWOT analysis of the project implementation and provide the results to Grand holder.

2.3.3 Implementation of internal quality control tool – SWOT analysisis made by each project partner in accordance with the Work plan – M6, M10, M30, M34.

3. Monitoring of the project progress

3.1 Questionnaire

3.1.1 The method of justifying the obtained SWOT results is a structured questionnaire based on which the WP4 partners will compile the final report on the progress of project activities in the final year of the project. The questionnaire is highlighted in Table 2. QAT leaders indicated in Table 1 provide answers to the questionnaire in accordance with the Work plan.

Table 2. QA Structured questionnaire

3.1.2 Representatives of all partners contribute to the completion of questionnaires on the effectiveness of the project in accordance with the Work Plan. The information will be shared with the Steering Committee.

3.1.4 Final drafts of all deliveries and reports will go through a round of comments by all partners. Members of the Steering Group will monitor these documents. The Steering Group will approve the final report of the KAZDUAL project flow.

3.1.5 Finally, all project outputs to be checked by Grand holder and/or WP6 to ensure compliance with the objectives of the KAZDUAL project application and rules of the Erasmus+ Programme. If necessary, additional communication among partners will be operated.

4. Pilot accreditation of the programs

4.1 Standards and criteria for program accreditation of dual educational programs

4.1.1 In order to assess the quality of the developed and implemented dual educational programs, the pilot accreditation will be conducted by an Independent Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (IQAA).

In accordance with international practice, IQAA will develop Standards and criteria for program accreditation of dual educational programs with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

4.1.2 Standards and criteria of IQAA for the dual education accreditation are based on the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG). The ESG standards were adopted by Ministers of Education in 2005, at the suggestion given by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) in cooperation with the European Students’ Union (ESU), European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE) and the European University Association (EUA).

4.2 Stages of the external review

4.2.1. The procedure of the dual education accreditation is designed by the Agency in accordance with the European and international standards, which include the following stages:

Stage 1

• The IQAA will appoint a coordinator, who will visit the educational organization. The coordinator will hold a training seminar for the working groups of the institution explaining the accreditation procedure and preparation of the SAR;
• The educational organization will conduct a self-assessment procedure and write a SAR in accordance with the IQAA’s standards and criteria of program accreditation of dual educational programs;
• The educational organization will submit the first version of the SAR and IQAA will organize its technical review. The expert evaluation results will be sent to the educational organization and if necessary, the SAR should be corrected by the institution;
• The educational organization will submit the final version of the SAR with annexes to the Agency;

Stage 2

• IQAA will form a competent group of experts (auditors), which will include representatives of Kazakhstani educational institutions in the field of dual education, representatives of colleges, international experts in the field of dual education, employers (representatives of industries) and students. The expert group will be formed in parallel with the expertise of the SAR;
• IQAA will inform the educational organization on the composition of the expert group in advance. In case of any suspicions of a conflict of interest, the educational organization has the right to request the Agency to replace an expert (auditor) by enclosing a written reasoned explanation;
• The IQAA coordinator will send self-assessment materials and documents on methodological support to the expert group members for their preparation a month before the external review;
• The IQAA coordinator will conduct a preliminary webinar (online) with the expert group in order to train them and discuss organizational issues and preparation to the site visit; a briefing (at the university) is conducted before the commencement of the external review (site visit);
• The expert group and the IQAA coordinator will conduct an external review of the dual educational programs (the site visit usually lasts two days for programme accreditation). The external review is aimed at assessment of correspondence of information presented in the SAR with the actual state of affairs in the educational organization;
• The expert group will form an external review report indicating fields for improvement, recommendations and good practice, and will send it to the IQAA coordinator;
• The IQAA coordinator will send the received external review report to the educational organization for elimination of factual inaccuracies, if any of such are present. The educational organization also has the right to submit its written commentary on the external review report, which should be reviewed together with other materials at the meeting of the Accreditation Council of IQAA on decision-making;
• If necessary, the educational organizations can use a complaints procedure.

Stage 3

• Based on the SAR and the external review report, IQAA coordinator will prepare a conclusion, which is first agreed with the Expert Council, and a presentation for the Accreditation Council;
• The Accreditation Council of IQAA at its meeting will review all necessary materials and make a decision on accreditation of the educational programs on the basis of a SAR and the external review report, a presentation and a conclusion. However, with the account of opinions from members of the Accreditation council, additional information about a specific program and evidence on a HEI, the assessment can be changed;
• IQAA will notify the educational organization and the expert group members, who conduct the external review, on the decision taken by the Accreditation Council of IQAA;
• If necessary, the educational organizations can use appeals procedure;
• IQAA will publish the external review report and the presentation on the IQAA’s website in the section External review reports. IQAA will include accredited dual educational programs to the Register of IQAA and publish them on the website in the sections Register of accredited study programs;
• IQAA will send information on accredited educational organizations and study programs to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan for their inclusion to the National Registers.

5. External monitoring and control

In order to monitor and ensure the quality results of the works submitted by the partners of the project, a group for the external monitoring and control will be composed. The group will consist of four people – 2 experts from Estonia and 2 experts from Kazakhstan.

External Monitoring Plan (EMP) composes of three parts that aim to control and assess the effectiveness of the project implementation:

1. Monitoring of the effectiveness of the provided deliverables
2. Monitoring of the quality of the process
3. Monitoring of the effective implementation of the project

This document provides forms and quality criteria based on which the overall monitoring on the project effectiveness will be realized.

5.1 Monitoring of the effectiveness of the provided deliverables

In order to control the effectiveness of the provided deliverables during the project implementation and present comprehensive feedback to make corrections two types of Quality Criteria will be used: overall quality of the outcome/deliverable and quality of specific aspects of the outcome/deliverable.

Table 3. General Quality Criteria – to assess the overall quality of the outcome/deliverable as a whole

Table 4. Specific Quality Criteria – to assess the quality of specific aspects of the outcome/deliverable

5.2 Monitoring of the quality of the process

In order to monitor the quality of the process for project deliverables, next quality criteria will be used.

Table 6. Specific Quality Criteria for process

5.3 Monitoring of the effective implementation of the project

In order to control the effectiveness and quality implementation of the project in terms of organization and management the following aspects will be assessed: organization and efficiency, management and coordination and stakeholder involvement and dissemination of results.

Table 7. Project organization and efficiency

Table 8. Project management and coordination (general) – Work Package 6 – Management

Table 9.Stakeholder involvement and dissemination of results