DANUBE RECTORS’
CONFERENCE
UNIVERSITY OF EXCELLENCE
Teaching
Learning
Research
Community Services
4-7 november, 2010
Babes - Bolyai University
Cluj-Napoca
Universitatea
DANUBE RECTORS’ CONFERENCE UNIVERSITY OF EXCELLENCE.
YAI
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
OBJECTIVES
(Each presentation is followed by 5 minutes of discussion)
This meeting aims to bring together policy makers, institutional leaders and international experts in the
field of academic management.
TOPICS
What is excellence?
Evaluation and assessment of higher education institutions
Benchmarking, academic rankings, classifications, and their impact
Criteria for faculty performance appraisal
Changing labour markets and the future of higher education
International university cooperation in a competitive context
Friday, November 5
07:00
08:00 – 09:30 Registration (Aula Magna)
09:30 - 10:30 Opening Address and Presentations
Location: Aula Magna
Moderator Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mircea Maniu (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
09:30 - 09:40
Opening Address
09:40 - 10:05
Prof. Dr. Andrei Marga (Rector, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
10:05 - 10:30
Prof. Dr. Norman Sharp (The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
Scotland, Gloucester)
Managing quality to support excellence
10:30 - 11:00
Coffee Break
LOCAL ORGANIZERS
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mircea Maniu
Roxana Gâz
Anca Kiss
Prof. Dr. Andrei Marcus
Gelu Gherghin
Assist. Monica Zaharie
Project POSDRU/18/1.2/G/5593
“Quality Assurance of University Study Programmes Through Human Resource Training and Labour
Market Orientation”
Breakfast (Restaurant “Casa de oaspeţi”)
11:00 - 13:00 Presentations
Location: Aula Magna
Moderator Prof. Dr. Andrei Marcus (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
11:00 - 11:30
Prof. Dr. László Imre Komlósi (Vice-Rector, University of Pécs)
11:30 - 12:00
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mircea Maniu, Assist. Camelia Moraru, Dr. Carmen Pop
(Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Convergent Perspectives: How Universities, Labor Market and Graduates (Should)
Jointly Shape Higher Education’s Landscape
12:00 - 12:30
Prof. Dr. Nagy Ladislau (Vice-President of Academic Council, Babeş-Bolyai
University, Cluj-Napoca)
Excellence in scientific research
12:30 - 13:00
Prof. Dr. Daniel David, (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca / Mount Sinai School of
Medicine, New-York)
Assessment of research output; An integrative framework
13:00 – 15:00 Lunch (Restaurant “Piramida”)
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Universitatea
DANUBE RECTORS’ CONFERENCE UNIVERSITY OF EXCELLENCE.
15:00 - 16:00 Presentations
Location: Aula Magna
Moderator: Prof. Dr. Norman Sharp (The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher
Education Scotland, Gloucester)
YAI
Saturday, November 6
07:00
Breakfast (Restaurant “Casa de oaspeţi”)
15:00 - 15:30
Prof. Dr. Zoltán Horváth (Vice-Rector, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
International university cooperation in a competitive context
09:30 - 10:30 Presentations
Location: Aula Magna
Prof. Dr. László Imre Komlósi (Vice-Rector, University of Pécs)
15:30 - 16:00
Prof. Dr. Gordana Kralik (Rector, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University, Osijek)
09:30 - 09:50
16:00 - 16:30
Coffee Break
Prof. Dr. Andrei Marcuş (Vice-Rector), Gelu Gherghin (Centre for Quality Management, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Peer evaluation and the Babeş-Bolyai University Excellence Initiative
09:50 - 10:10
Prof. Dr. Ing. Lidia Cristea (Rector, Romanian University of Science and Arts ‘’Gh.
Cristea’’ Bucharest)
Strategies applied in Higher Education in synergism with the labour market
10:10 - 10:30
Prof. Dr. Liviu Ilies, Assist. Monica Zaharie (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Employers’ viewpoint in setting the competency agenda in higher education
Coffee Break
16:30 - 18:00 Presentations
Location: Aula Magna
Moderator: Prof. Dr. Norman Sharp (The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher
Education Scotland, Gloucester)
16:30 - 17:00
Prof. Dr. Duncan C. McDougall (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Business Program Accreditation in America: Impacts of Assessment on Quality at
Plymouth State University
10:30 - 11:00
17:00 - 17:30
Florentina Cărbunaru (Students Organisation of Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania`s
Youth Delegate to the United Nations 2010-2011)
University of Excellence
11:00 - 13:00 Presentations
Location: Aula Magna
Prof. Dr. László Imre Komlósi (Vice-Rector, University of Pécs)
17:30 - 18:00
Gabriel Ivan (Projects Manager Education & Science, British Council)
Working with UK and global partners to develop collaborative initiatives that promote
knowledge exchange, capacity building and quality improvement across the higher
education sector globally.
11:00 - 11:20
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alina Andreica (IT Department, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Academic Competitiveness and Integrated Information Systems. Implementing
UBB-online
11:20 - 11:40
Ioana Mureşan (Alumni Association), Catalina Amihăiesi (Fund Raising Office,
Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Life after Graduation. Engaging Alumni in University Development
11:40 - 12:00
Viorel Proteasa (Bologna Secretariat)
Transparency Tools within the European Higher Education Area
12:00 - 12:20
Sonia Pavlenko (Centre of University Development), Assist. Cristina Bojan
(Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Defining excellence in higher education
12:20 - 13:00
Prof. Dr. Paul Şerban Agachi (President, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
New trends in diversification in Higher Education in Europe
19:00
Dinner (Restaurant “Piramida”)
13:00 – 15:00 Lunch (Restaurant “Piramida”)
15:00
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Tour of the university, city walk
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Universitatea
DANUBE RECTORS’ CONFERENCE UNIVERSITY OF EXCELLENCE.
SPEAKERS
Prof. Dr. Andrei Marga (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Prof. Dr. Norman Sharp (The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education Scotland, Gloucester)
Managing quality to support excellence
This presentation will start by examining some of the problems associated with the concept of ‘excellence’ before locating it within the more useful concept of enhancement. Some of the main principles
underlying a successful enhancement strategy will then be explored. Particular reference will be made
to the importance of: constructive partnerships; the key role of students; the balance of domestic
cultures and internationalization; independence and transparency; and, reflexivity. Throughout the
presentation reference will be made to quality systems at both the national and institutional levels.
Finally, the presentation will conclude by re-emphasizing the importance of developing long-term quality cultures.
Prof. Dr. László Imre Komlósi (Vice-Rector for international relations, University of Pécs)
Prof. Dr. Daniel David, (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca / Mount Sinai School of Medicine,
New-York)
Assessment of research output; An integrative framework
The assessment of the research output is a complex and a debatable process. There is much confusion in the assessment process: (1) research output versus innovative products/services to communities, (2) research output versus the impact of the research output; (3) research output versus educational output etc. In this paper I will propose an integrative framework that can support an assessment
process that is both objective and relevant. “Excellence” in relationship with research output will also
be discussed and included in the model.
Prof. Dr. Nagy Ladislau (Vice-President of Academic Council, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Excellence in scientific research
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mircea Maniu, Assist. Camelia Moraru, Dr. Carmen Pop (Babeş-Bolyai University,
Cluj-Napoca)
Convergent Perspectives: How Universities, Labor Market and Graduates (Should) Jointly
Shape Higher Education’s Landscape
Prof. Dr. Zoltán Horváth (Vice-Rector, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
International university cooperation in a competitive context
The paper reports the activities and results of eleven years cooperation in computer science higher
education in the framework of a CEEPUS network consisting of eleven universities. Our network ”International Cooperation in Computer Science” won the Ministers’ Prize of Excellence in 2004, and in
2007 granted to be the best network of the CEEPUS Programme. Beside the student and teaching
stuff mobility the network organizes advanced summer schools, joint practical trainings at industrial
partners, curricula developments, joint MSc and PhD supervisions, encourages joint bilateral research
projects, supports the publishing of computer science textbooks and lecture notes.
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Prof. Dr. Gordana Kralik (Rector, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University, Osijek)
Prof. Dr. Duncan C. McDougall (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Business Program Accreditation in America: Impacts of Assessment on Quality at Plymouth
State University
In 1996, the Plymouth State College Business Department voted to switch its national association
membership from AACSB to ACBSP, and to pursue specialized accreditation under the ACBSP
Standards and Criteria. In 1997, having prepared a self-study to document all that we had already done in improving our department (while seeking to qualify for AACSB candidacy), we were
accredited by ACBSP. In 2003, Plymouth State College was renamed by the New Hampshire
State Legislature as Plymouth State University (PSU). In 2004, the ACBSP adopted a new set of
mission-driven accreditation standards and criteria based upon the Baldrige Continuous Improvement Model of quality management. Thereafter, the PSU Business Department quickly adopted a
systematic plan for Outcomes Assessment, including a mix of external and internal measures of
student learning and satisfaction, faculty and staff satisfaction, employer satisfaction with graduates, etc. In 2007, the ACBSP accreditation of the PSU Department of Business was reaffirmed,
following a second rigorous self-study prepared under the ACBSP’s Baldrige-based Standards
and Criteria. In 2009, the College of Business Administration of Plymouth State University became
the first faculty of the University to be recognized as a College, under its own Dean, managing
its own budgets. During the years from 2001 to 2010 the undergraduate student body majoring in
business at PSU grew by over 80%, and the number of MBA students more-than-doubled. CoBA’s
programs have been well-received by their stakeholders, and a number of U.S. national awards for
excellence have been received. Professor McDougall’s talk will highlight the role of assessment,
of business accreditation, and of the continuous improvement approach to quality improvement in
PSU’s Academic journey.
Florentina Cărbunaru (Students Organisation of Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania`s Youth
Delegate to the United Nations 2010-2011)
University of Excellence
The higher education institutions have an immeasurable contribution to the personal and professional
lives of students and enrich the intellectual, economic, and cultural fabric of their communities, states,
nations and beyond. This higly value directed to college and universities is one attributed to few social
institutions.
For those and other reasons the contributions and the significance of the higher education community
have been generously acknowleged over the years in professional and academic presses, but also
in popular discourse. One more reason for that our colleges and universities should take their academic role very seriously, and higher education institutions should make all the efforts to document
and evaluate their accomplishments. This is done in various ways, including accreditation reviews,
disciplinary self-studies and periodic peer evaluations of individuals, programs, and institutions. Also
it is required assessments focus on student qualifications, research-funding levels, faculty teaching
and scholarship, library holdings, computing facilities, instructional programs and many other dimensions of quality.
Why the beneficiaries of the higher education institutions are not more supportive? Why has
public funding for higher education been relatively flat in recent period? Why is there continuous
critique by students, parents, mass media, taxpayers, public officials, alumni, employers, and
other constituencies?
Higher education has long been committed to excellence. However, critics often point out that the
measures of change and improvement in universities is slow-and more episodic than continuous. To
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DANUBE RECTORS’ CONFERENCE UNIVERSITY OF EXCELLENCE.
address the many obstacles and problems confronting higher education, strong leadership is demand
at all levels in academic, student life, service, and administrative areas. For reasons that are difficult
to understand, leadership development has historically not been the priority in higher education that
it has been in other sectors. The challenge is to clarify the knowledge and skill bases necessary for
effective higher education leadership, and then to create opportunities to attract, develop, and reward
people with such capabilities.
A vision of what constitutes an effective academic process, commitment to institutional self-reflection,
and the competencies necessary to ensure collaborative and continuous improvement are among the
key elements needed for the excellence in educational leadership that is so much in demand.
To be successful in pursuing these goals, we need to formulate and adopt a broader, more inclusive
understanding of excellence-one that leads us to aspire to excellence in all that we do.
Gabriel Ivan (British Council, Projects Manager Education & Science)
Working with UK and global partners to develop collaborative initiatives that promote knowledge
exchange, capacity building and quality improvement across the higher education sector globally.
Internationalising Higher Education is a large scale project of the British Council operating in 30
countries all over across the world. Throughout 2010 – 2013 the British Council is committed to work
together with its Romanian partners in a number of three strands of the project. The Global Policy
Dialogue strand will develop new global networks, with a unique capacity to deliver sustainable relationships, promoting the skills, creativity and innovation to participate internationally. On the Global
Partnership for Knowledge Economy component of the project we are looking to support the formation of cluster partnerships across regions based on research and innovation, collaborative teaching
programmes, educational management partnerships, collaborative commercial consultancy etc. Internationalising Student Experience component aims to build and embed intercultural understanding at
the core of the higher education experience.
YAI
Prof. Dr. Liviu Ilies, Assist. Monica Zaharie (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Employers’ viewpoint in setting the competency agenda in higher education
Establishing a stronger relation between employers’ requirements and the competencies delivered by
educational institutions represents a strategic but still debated issue. The increased focus on higher
education accountability is also emphasizing the requirement for universities to continuously analyze
the needs expressed by the labour market. The pilot quantitative survey conducted on 57 companies
aimed to identify the recruitment practices, the selection criteria used by employers, and the value
educational credentials have for the hiring process. Even the specific competencies are considered
to be important selection criteria, the results show that the companies are more oriented on finding
candidates able to take responsibility and show a right attitude towards work. The feedback obtained
from the employing companies is both useful for the student and academic staff, but also for the institutional policies. Still, the universities have to further develop their own skills agenda, which has to be
more than simple responses to external input.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alina Andreica (IT Department, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Academic Competitiveness and Integrated Information Systems. Implementing UBB-online
Academic competitiveness imposes the implementation of efficient IT strategies for educational, research and administrative management, as well as of advanced e-learning systems. The paper proposes a solution for creating an integrated web portal framework for providing e-learning services
and dedicated information systems facilities (based on various database management systems). The
portal uses MS technology and provides, as learning services, management content and e-learning
facilities for various user categories, together with the dedicated information system facilities. This
web framework has a good extensibility degree and may be used in various organization cases. We
emphasize the competitive advantages of an integrated software framework for providing academic
electronic services.
Prof. Dr. Andrei Marcuş (Vice-Rector), Gelu Gherghin (Centre for Quality Management,
Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
Peer evaluation and the Babeş-Bolyai University Excellence Initiative
Ioana Mureşan (Alumni Association), Catalina Amihăiesi (Fund Raising Office, Babeş-Bolyai
University, Cluj-Napoca)
Life after Graduation. Engaging Alumni in University Development
The UBB Excellence Competition 2010 aimed to reward the best performance at six categories: bachelor programmes, master programmes, doctoral and postdoctoral programmes, research groups,
research and services groups, personalities. This presentation describes the development of the
evaluation methodology, the problems encountered and the solutions adopted. It is also a pretext for
reflection on the academic quality assessment.
Romanian universities are concerned with graduate employability and implementation of various
tracking systems for their alumni. However, graduates have much more to offer than employability
rates and occasional course evaluation. The presentation includes a case study on the cooperation
between the Alumni Association and the Fund Raising Office at Babeş-Bolyai University for developing an initial engagement plan for UBB graduates.
Prof. Dr. Ing. Lidia Cristea (Rector, Romanian University of Science and Arts ‘’Gh.Cristea’’ Bucharest)
Strategies applied in Higher Education in synergism with the labour market
Sonia Pavlenko (Centre of University Development), Assist. Cristina Bojan (Babeş-Bolyai
University, Cluj-Napoca)
Defining excellence in higher education
The paper presents the new strategies of the Universities in the context of the economic global crises.
We must study new Governance, a new concept of quality in front with the market, a new evaluation of
the Benchmarking. In the middle of the increase of the poverty, the labour market needs a pragmatic
program of qualification, not a theoretical one.
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Universitatea
In recent years, the concept of “excellence” has increasingly been used in connection to higher education institutions, concerning a wide range of activities, starting from quality assurance processes and
up to marketing strategies for recruiting new students and staff. “Excellence” has almost metamorphosed into a “buzz word” for the field of higher education, but at the same time, its understanding
and use varies widely from one institution to another, from one country to another, and so on. In this
presentation we aim at discussing possible definitions and approaches of the concept of “excellence”
and their implications for the field of higher education.
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DANUBE RECTORS’ CONFERENCE UNIVERSITY OF EXCELLENCE.
Excellence in the field of higher education (and not only) is usually defined as the particular state that
exhibits characteristics that are very good and, implicitly, not achievable by all. Excellence enshrines
as well a meaning of quality. Nevertheless, excellence is usually approached through a set of standards or through constructed frameworks, and is given a wide variety of interpretations. Some explore
it in relationship to doctoral training, seeing it as a particular trait of this type of training. Others associate it with world-class universities. Our presentation aims at exploring all the above-mentioned
approaches and then raising a number of critical aspects that are still debatable in what excellence
is concerned.
Prof. Dr. Paul Şerban Agachi (President, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)
New trends in diversification in Higher Education in Europe
Universitatea
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education systems and institutions to identify and compare their respective strengths, should be developed in close consultation with the key stakeholders”. Further on, they considered that these initiatives should be in line with Bologna principles and build on the existing transparency tools, especially
quality assurance and recognition.
The Bologna Follow-Up Group is asked, amongst others, “to monitor the development of the transparency mechanisms and to report back to the 2012 ministerial conference”. Based on this mandate, the
BFUG adopted the following purpose and outcomes for the Transparency Tools Working Group: to
monitor the development of the transparency tools and mechanisms both the purposes and the objectives (information, accountability, quality) and the indicators and criteria used (input/processes, output/
outcome); to make a report to the 2012 ministerial conference”.
Viorel Proteasa (Bologna Secretariat)
Transparency Tools within the European Higher Education Area
Needs of the modern societies are diverse, complex and continuously changing. In order to accommodate these needs, higher education institutions have become complex organisations performing
various functions, rooted in diverse traditions. Transparency tools should describe higher education
institutions in their complexity. An endless ideological debate would rise when trying to describe what
higher education institutions should do. The Ministers managed to find a compromise in the frame of
the Bologna Process. They have defined the higher education institutions as serving the purposes
of: “preparing students for life as active citizens in a democratic society; preparing students for their
future careers and enabling their personal development; creating and maintaining a broad, advanced
knowledge base; stimulating research and innovation”.
The European Higher Education Area is an area where, amongst others, “higher education institutions are responsive to the wider needs of society through the diversity of their missions”. Institutional
and study programme diversity is regarded as one of the biggest assets of the European Higher
Education Area. Transparency tools can be regarded as having the purpose to adequately inform the
decisions of the beneficiaries (students, families, businesses, the society as a whole). Transparency
tools would collect, process, systemize and communicate data on diverse higher education institutions. Renowned higher education policy researchers and stakeholders brought to the attention of
the directors generals for Higher Education in European Union’s countries, their concerns regarding
rankings and classifications, the widest debated amongst transparency tools: they do not include in
the “portrait” difficult or impossible to measure, yet important functions of higher education institutions;
they promote one hegemonic image of excellent institutions, stimulating higher education institutions
with different profile to imitative behavior, thus having a homogenizing effect (decreasing diversity);
they impact on the governance of higher education institutions and on the relationships between their
constituents; they impact on the access policies, strengthening inequalities.
The Bologna Process, in its endeavor for greater comparability and compatibility of the national higher
education systems, has installed a set of tools, whose purpose, amongst others, is to provide information to the beneficiaries: quality assurance; recognition; qualifications framework; diploma supplement; ECTS. Besides these, rankings and classifications can be regarded as providing information
to the beneficiaries. Customizable information could be obtained also through benchmarking. HEI’s
displaying voluntarily their “quality” profiles can inform decisions of HE benefiters. A webtool listing all
accredited study programmes can also be helpful for information purposes. The Ministers within the
European Higher Education Area have acknowledged the existence of several initiatives to improve
such tools. Further on, they have opined that “any such mechanisms, including those helping higher
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Babes - Bolyai University
http://www.ubbcluj.ro
http://conference.ubbcluj.ro/drc_excellence
Str. Mihail Kogalniceanu, No. 1
RO-400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Phone: +40-264-405300
Fax: +40-264-591906
E-mail: qa@staff.ubbcluj.ro