Networking visit of SEE QA experts to the
Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher
Education (ARACIS) and the Bologna
Secretariat
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
19 – 20 OCTOBER 2011
Romanian Agency for Quality
Assurance in Higher Education
(ARACIS)
QUALITY ASSURANCE IN
ROMANIAN EDUCATION
Quality assurance in
Romanian Education
Provisions
of
government
emergency
ordinance (GOE) regarding quality assurance
in education, no. 75/2005, approved by the
law no. 87/2006, modified by GOE 75/2011 main operational concepts for quality in
education :
Quality assurance (internal)
 Evaluation and control (internal &
external)
 Improvement (internal)

Romanian Agency for Quality
Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS)




1993: Law no. 88/1993 on Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher
Education Institutions and Recognition of Diplomas
National Council for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation
(CNEAA - NCAAA): 1993 - 2006 evaluation and accreditation of
institutions and study programs
The Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education
(ARACIS) officially established by Government Emergency
Ordinance No. 75 for Quality Assurance in Education of July 12th,
2005, modified and approved by Law 87/2006, Published in the
Romanian Official Journal, Part I No. 334 of April 13th, 2006 –
modified by government emergency ordinance 75/2011
ARACIS: Mission and objectives stated by Law ; also, ARACIS
assumes and carries on the official rights and obligations of the
former Romanian National Council for Academic Assessment and
Accreditation (CNEAA) as well as its technical staff, archives and
goods
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher
Education (ARACIS)

Objectives - Quality assurance
- develop and regularly review the national reference standards and the
performance indicators, based on best practices, aiming to evaluate
quality of higher education
- cooperate with other national institutions involved in the development
and promotion of policies and action strategies, aiming to increase the
quality of education in Romania
- organize yearly consultations with the higher education institutions to
put forth the priorities in the field of quality assurance
- develop its own procedures for the external quality evaluation and
make them available to the public
- perform external quality evaluation of programs and the providing
institutions, national or foreign education establishments, as well as for
the inter - institutional evaluation of similar programs, on contractual
basis
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Objectives - Quality assurance:
- perform the quality evaluation in cases of certain programs and higher education
establishments, upon request by the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and
Sports
- publish the results of the external assessments
- publish manuals, guidelines, papers summarizing the best practices in the quality
assessment and assurance
- develop regularly, every three years, system analyses on the quality of the higher
education in Romania
- cooperate with other similar foreign agencies in order to develop and implement
effective measures to improve the quality of the higher education programs
- develop the Code of Professional Ethics Code applicable to the ARACIS experts
- publish yearly report on its own activity
- develop reports aiming to assess its own operational quality, every three years,
with a view to prepare itself for the external assessment by similar foreign agencies
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Accreditation
Two successive stages:
a) provisional authorizing, as first step - gives the HE provider the right to initiate and
carry out the educational process and to organize, as the case may be, the admittance
examinations;
b) accreditation - grants the institution the right, along with the others rights provided
under let. a), to issue diplomas, Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports
certificates and other official documents papers recognized by the Ministry of
Education, Research, Youth and Sports and to organize, as the case may be, graduation
examinations at Bachelor, Master and Doctorate level.
Other tasks related to accreditation:
a) develop on a regular basis the Methodology and the accreditation standards for
different types of programs and HE providers, to be submitted to the Ministry of
Education, Research, Youth and Sports and approved by the Government;
b) to evaluate quality of higher education, based on the standards and Methodology,
upon request or of its own motion, and to propose the authorization, respectively, the
accreditation of the higher education providers and of their study domains and
programs. Based on the ARACIS reports, the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth
and Sports initiates the necessary legislative provisions for the establishment of higher
education structures.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher
Education (ARACIS)

Status and Resources
- autonomous institution, of national interest, a legal
entity with its own income and expenditure budget
- lead by a board of 17 members (15 academics and
two students), with high academic and moral status,
holding teaching positions in the higher education
system. Every four years, the Council of ARACIS
shall renew its composition by opening 10 positions
to a new selection procedure. The members of the
Council can sit for only two terms, 4 years each.
Rectors and persons holding official positions with
the Presidency, Government or Parliament cannot
become or remain members of the Council of
ARACIS.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Resources (human)
- develops its own database of external
evaluators,
based
on
a
transparent
methodology (more than 1000 Romanian
academic experts who passed on-line
examination, students, foreign evaluators
and representatives of the labor market)
- consistency of evaluation: the Council
set up 15 permanent specialty (subject)
Commissions
- permanent staff (35 – increase forseen)
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Resources (facilities)

premises (rented)

furniture (purchased)

equipment (purchased)

one car
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Independence


The Agency is independent of any political or other external
influence
From the financial point of view, as stated by the Government
Ordinance No 102/2006, ARACIS is funded as follows:
a) fees collected for covering the costs of external evaluation for
authorization/ accreditation/periodic evaluation of the higher
education establishments and their study domains or programs;
b) contracts for external evaluation of quality in higher education,
concluded with third parties, as the Ministry of Education,
Research, Youth and Sports;
c) grants obtained through participation in international
programs, donations, sponsorship activities, as well as other
sources duly established.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Mission statement
The mission statement of the Agency is specified in the Law
87/2006 In accordance with its mission and the legal
provisions, ARACIS elaborated a Methodology for external
evaluation, standards, standards of reference and list of
performance indicators, which was approved by Government
Decision No. 1418/2006 in which the mission specified is fully
stated.
According to this “Methodology”, quality assurance in
education makes reference to the following fields and criteria:
A. Institutional capacity
B. Educational effectiveness
C. Quality management
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)

The definition and operation of the procedures of the Agency
are stated in the “Methodology” are detailed in the “Guide of
the Activities of Quality Evaluation of University Study
Programs and Higher Education Institutions” developed and
approved by the Council of the agency:
Part I -Authorization/accreditation of licence (bachelor) and
master programs (Bologna “First” and “Second” cycles);
Part II - External quality evaluation for accreditation at
institutional level;
Part III - External quality evaluation at institutional level at
accredited institutions;
Part IV – External evaluation of Departments for Teacher
formation and training in HE institutions;
Part V – External evaluation of departments and distance
learning programs offered by universities.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
A NEW METHODOLOGY!
(PROBABLY THIS MONTH)
Because
QA is a continuous process
A new legal context
ARACIS already realized a system analyze for
Romanian HE system
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
A new legal context

The law on quality assurance, law no. 87/2006,
remains into force. The law establishes the general
criteria for quality assurance: institutional capacity,
educational effectiveness and quality management.

A new law on education has been passed; the law
foresees
a
differentiation
process
among
universities – there will be three non-hierarchical
categories: education centred, education and
research and respectively research intensive
universities.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
A new legal context
The law also foresees the multiplication of the evaluation
processes and focuses:


Evaluation for the authorization/accreditation and
periodical evaluation (every five years) of institutions,
licence programmes, master domains and doctoral
schools

Evaluation for the classification of universities and
ranking of study programmes
The law also foresees a new financing methodology – the
allocation of funds will be more competitive on the basis
of the ranking of the study programmes.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
ARACIS finished the following evaluation
activities:



- external evaluation of quality for 80 public and
private accredited institutions
- external evaluation of a number of 2220 study
programs, at the request of the interested
institutions, in view of accreditation or periodic
quality evaluation;
- external evaluation of a number of 2950 master
programs, at the request of the interested
institutions, in view of accreditation.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Strong points of the Methodology



Quality Barometers : high degree of
consensus among the major stakeholders academic staff and students as regards the
appropriateness of these procedures
The Methodology has been recognized at
European level (ARACIS - full member of
ENQA in June, 2009 and listed in EQAR in
September, 2009)
A large number of universities and study
programs have been evaluated
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Strong points of the Methodology
ACADEMIS project:

opportunity to broaden the area of institutional evaluation by
covering a large part of the higher education landscape

systematic data gathering on main stakeholders’ opinions and
perceptions on quality; objective data on universities
(benchmarking exercise); secondary analysis and reflection on
the current methodology.

active participation of students in external institutional
evaluation

framework for wide consultation with experts in universities in
order to improve the existing methodology on an evidence and
data based approach.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Weak points identified in the HE system


Low level of differentiation among universities with
regard to mission, strategies and quality assurance
procedures
High degree of homogeneity and institutional
isomorphism in organisation
but
Objective reason: specialized universities (i.e.
medical, military, technical etc.) are more
homogeneous than comprehensive universities
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Weak points identified in the HE system

High levels of formalism and ritualism in the
internal quality assurance practices in
institutions; the focus has been on drafting
dossiers for accreditation and/or periodic
evaluation

SERs of higher education institutions: are
too "laudatory," instead of showing an
understanding the concepts of QA and the
activities themselves.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Weak points identified in the HE system


The internal quality assurance is mostly a
technical
bureaucratic
activity - not
embedded in the day-to-day routines and
practices of the universities or study
programmes
The involvement of students - achieved in
the external evaluation but to a much lesser
degree in the internal quality assurance
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Weak points identified in the HE system



The quality assurance practices have not
been internalized - largely decoupled from
the teaching/learning and research current
activities in the universities
Internal quality cultures have not yet
emerged,
but
rather
countre-cultures
blaming the excessive bureaucratization of
academic activities.
Many higher education institutions do not
demonstrate the effectiveness of their own
internal quality assurance processes
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
New approach to policy making

The ACADEMIS project has facilitated the collection
and analysis of relevant objective and subjective
data at systemic level. The policy making process
now benefits from a broader range of experiences
and evidence as regards quality assurance in
Romanian higher education.

The elaboration of the new methodology is an
evidence-based type of policy making involving
numerous actors and stakeholders and will be the
result of systematic reflection on the current
methodology’s achievements and weaknesses.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Setting new QA principles

Shift of focus: from quality control or monitoring
(external evaluation) to quality enhancement.

Balanced focus on the benchmarking approach and
Compulsory normative minimal requirements (mostly for
accreditation) and fitness-for-purpose approach (for
periodical evaluation)

Benchmarking approach – meeting of threshold
indicators’ level for accreditation purposes – interinstitutional comparisons – benchmarking will be a
dynamic process based on the current performance of
Romanian unis, but also observing European trends and
benchmarks.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Setting new QA principles

Fitness for purpose – mainly a quality enhancement
tool; universities and study programmes will be
encouraged to gather systematic data and to set
internal reference points – intra-institutional or intraprogramme comparisons. Universities will be
encouraged to reflect on the strenghts and
weaknesses and to take remedial decisions on the
basis of evidence.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Setting new QA principles

Accepted definitions - ENQA:

Fitness for purpose equates quality with the
fulfilment of a specification or stated outcomes:
Institutional choice between a range of indicators
according the university mission and objectives

Fitness of purpose evaluates whether the qualityrelated intentions of an organisation are adequate.
Increased weight and importance to the internal
mechanisms for quality assurance
Implementation of yearly internal quality assurance
reports of the study programmes/institutions
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
Setting new QA principles

Balanced set of indicators focusing mostly on
processes (internal management of quality at all
levels, study programmes, faculties, institution) and
outputs (learning outcomes, scientific production),
but
also
inputs
(staffing,
teaching/learning
environment)

Periodical evaluation will be mostly focused on the
audit of the internal quality system (process) and
quality enhancement. The institutions will be thus
encouraged to assume full responsibility for
assuring quality and also to involve stakeholders so
as to assure the validity of their study programmes.
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
NEW METHODOLOGY FOR QA

The European Standards and Guidelines

Multi-stage procedure: internal evaluation followed
by external evaluation and decision making – it has
already been successfully established and will be
maintained.

Important focus on internal evaluation

Bottom-up approach in setting indicators
procedures at institutional level.

Quality indicators in-built form within the programme
and more focused on student learning experiences.
and
Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ARACIS)
NEW METHODOLOGY FOR QA
 An inclusive and evidence based process of
defining the list and threshold level of
indicators for accreditation of different types
of universities and study programmes.

Quality is a contextual and cultural concept:
there can be various ‘qualities’

Diversity will be assumed and encouraged:
not just one path to quality assurance institution specific paths encouraged

Involvement
stimulated
of
stakeholders
will
be