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On May 27 - June 3, 2005 the representatives of the National Accreditation Agency were on a visit in Tallinn (Estonia) on the invitation of the Estonian Higher Education Accreditation Center. The purpose of their visit was studying the Estonian accreditation system of higher education.
In the course of their visit they got familiar with the work of the Estonian Higher Education Accreditation Center (EHEAC). The staff of the Center comprises of 3 people. The main objectives of the Center are:
- Work organization of experts' commissions, that implement program external review of Estonian institutions;
- Documents preparation for the accreditation decision to be ratified by the Estonian Higher Education Quality Assessment Council.
At present the system of higher education in Estonia counts 44 educational institutions (till now 47), realizing higher education programs, among them 6 private universities, 7 state applied institutes, 15 private applied institutes and 11 vocational schools, realizing higher education programs.
One of the acute problems in the system of higher education in Estonia is an increase of the number of institutions in post-Soviet period. Today the number of school-leavers (about 1400 people in 2005) is less than the number of vacancies for university entrants. The institutions are interested in "withholding" the students as most of them have to pay for their education which tells on education quality. According to the prognosis the number of school-leavers will decrease to 6000 people by 2012 and this will aggravate the situation in the system of higher education in Estonia.
In 2003 the government of Estonia put forward a reform:
- to adopt a system based on two main cycles: Baccalaureate- Magistrates (3+2),
- to establish a system of credits, easily equated to a European one (ECTS).
The system of program accreditation in Estonia has been operating from 1997. Today they are planning to additionally use the institutional accreditation.
The program accreditation in higher education includes the following stages:
- Self-evaluation report;
- External review and report preparation;
- Accreditation decision making by the Estonian Higher Education Quality Assessment Council.
Self-evaluation report is prepared by the academic staff and students learning on this program and should include the following issues:
1. Introduction
2. Educational political management
3. Curriculum
4. Teaching and learning practice
5. Students
6. Learning recourses
7. Academic and service staff
8. External relations and quality assurance
The Estonian Higher Education Center appoints experts of an appropriate sphere of knowledge to be in charge of the external review. The review is implemented on the basis of the self-evaluation report (sent two weeks prior to the site visit) and site visit.
A commission simultaneously carries out the external review of several programs (close in their profile) realized in one or different Estonian institutions. The site visit includes:
- meeting with the leaders/heads of the institutions;
- discussion with the self-evaluation report writers;
- interviews with students;
- interviews with academic staff;
- visits of premises, classrooms, laboratories and libraries.
According to the results of the external review each expert of the commission fills in a special form where he indicates his assessments (corresponds, doesn't correspond, concern) for various aspects of program activity (for e.g. students' admission, compliance of program curriculum with the European analogies etc.). The assessments are accompanied with the appropriate comments.
A combined review of each program should contain recommendations for the accreditation decision: full accreditation (for 7 years), conditional accreditation (3 years), no accreditation.
The accreditation decision is ratified by the Estonian Higher Education Quality Assessment Council. Studying on the accredited programs allows students to receive state recognition diplomas. The Ministry of Education of Estonia covers all accreditation expenses if the program is fully accredited. In case of conditional accreditation the higher education institution is to pay the fee (in three years).
On May 30 - June 3 the following programs have been under external review:
- Reviewer-Editors (Baccalaureate), Tallinn University,
- Communication (Magistrates), Tallinn University,
- Communications management (magistrates), Audentes University (Tallinn).
The commission included four experts from Finland, Great Britain and Ireland, one observer from Estonia (the Tallinn Technical University, member of the Estonian Higher Education Quality Assessment Council) and two observers from the National Accreditation Agency.
The Tallinn University (till 2005 - The Tallinn Pedagogical University) is considered one of the biggest universities (over 7000 students).
The University Audentes is the biggest and most stable private educational institution in Estonia (over 1000 students, including foreign students).
The educational process is communicated in English and foreign specialists from the USA, Germany and Great Britain are invited to conduct the lectures.
Each program was assessed within one day. After visiting the institutions the experts worked at a final report in the Estonian Higher Education Accreditation Center.
The experts' commission advised on a full accreditation of the Tallinn University programs and conditional accreditation of the University Audentes program.
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