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INNOVATIVE ACTIVITIES OF A COLLEGE AS A MEANS OF IMPROVING QUALITY OF EDUCATION
O.A. Semenova
The innovative trend and expanding processes of world economy globalization, competition of countries in the field of economy of knowledge and technological ideas place the education sphere at the level of an industry ensuring conditions for sustainable social-economic development of the state, while the intellectual capital created by it makes it a strategic factor determining the prospects of its development and increasing competitiveness. In this connection the task faced by our state - to join the 50 best countries of the world by level of competitiveness - sets qualitatively new requirements for the system of education and science placing the problem of knowledge quality into the plane of their “capitalization”. The trends of education development conditioned by globalization processes presuppose formation of systems of providing quality educational services and competitive knowledge adequate to the trends. New requirements for the quality and content of education and the mechanisms of its control and assessment are also set today by the economy of the country.
The society’s growing interest in problems of education shifts the notion of “quality of education” from the sphere of study and analysis of a narrow circle of specialists into the sphere of state policy strengthening the role and significance of objective assessment of the quality of education as a specific social practice setting new forms of public life.
Reforming the system of management of educational institutions (hereinafter EI), by strengthening the innovative character of education results in gradual replacement of traditional management strategies formed in the conditions of a steadily functioning environment with new more flexible (adaptive) strategies capable of adjusting to the changing external and internal conditions. The high standard of professional requirements for graduates of professional EI and the new economic realities identified the need both for improving the content of control of the quality of professional education and changing the approach to management of the quality of the educational process.
The developmental priorities of vocational education in Moscow are: (a) improvement of the content and technologies of education and attitude development and ensuring the quality of educational services; (b) increasing management efficiency, improving economic mechanisms in the education sphere as well as formation of the Moscow standard of education quality; (c) formation of an expedient and effective system of teaching and development of a Muscovite from birth till full legal age; (d) ensuring conditions for bringing out the abilities and education of the personality prepared for life in a high-technology society and competitive world. The education process must be aimed at continuous personal growth and must result in the graduate of a Moscow educational institution possessing the skill to independently set and achieve serious aims and responsibly respond to various life situations. Innovative activity of Moscow educational
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institutions is being developed in accordance with the priorities of the capital city’s education identified in the State Program of Moscow for a mid-term period (20122016) and the relevance of the city’s innovative program “Creation of a System of Management of the Quality of Primary and Secondary Vocational Education” created on the basis of Moscow State Technical School of Technologies and Law. For that purpose a project was developed; its fundamental idea is creation of a system of quality management in accordance with the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 standard that allows for ensuring the quality of the educational services provided in educational institutions of secondary vocational education (hereinafter SVE) of Moscow and for forming the basis of the regional system of vocational education quality management. The project for the creation of an innovative system of quality management united the network of Moscow colleges of different sectoral affiliation. The quality management systems (QMS) of an educational institution create conditions for improving the quality level of educational services of vocational educational institutions and for improving compliance with the requirements both for the quality of vocational education and for implementation of effective mechanisms ensuring the quality of educational services. QMS of Moscow colleges is a guarantee of ensuring the quality of educational services.
Summarizing various definitions developed by ISO one can say that QMS is a system created for continuous formation of policy and objectives in the quality field and for achievement of these objectives. QMS as a system is designed to ensure the quality of products or services and “to tune in” this quality to consumers’ (customers’) expectations. Its major task is not control of every product unit but prevention of mistakes in work that could result in appearance of defects (bad quality of products or services).
QMS as a system consists of the following elements: organization, processes, documents and resources. An organization implies an aggregate of elements of the organizational-manpower structure related to quality, rules of their interaction as well as the personnel responsible for quality. A process is an aggregate of interrelated and interacting elements of the activity transforming “inputs” into “outputs”. “Inputs” of a process are usually “outputs” of other processes. Processes in an organization are generally planned and implemented with a view to adding value (from “input” to “output”). The notion of “procedure” has a special meaning in QMS. A procedure is an established method of activity or process performance. Thus, a process or an aggregate of processes may be called a procedure. The notion of “quality management system” includes quality of products, product quality control, management quality (setting objectives of the organization, planning of the company’s activity and personnel incentives), quality of the production processes of the organization, coordinated actions of the company’s divisions and employees, etc.
Certification is a procedure in the course of which an independent certification agency confirms that the management system corresponds to the requirements of a particular standard (in this case ISO 9001:2008). Advantages of certification are: a certified quality management system (and the certificate itself, accordingly) is a guarantor of stability and financial soundness of the institution and a factor of investment attractiveness. If the system is certified, one can forecast the routes of development, while the issue of risk reduction and safety of invested
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capital is quite important for investors. QMS introduction and certification guarantees safety of educational institutions through registration of documents stating responsibility: written recording of the relations with suppliers and consumers in accordance with concluded agreements, etc. The standard sets the following major requirements: the organization’s activity must be planned; it is necessary to identify resources for achievement of the objective; systems must be constantly analyzed with regard to achievement of the planned results.
Participation of the collective of the technical school in innovative activities introducing modern standards of education quality creates conditions for conformity to the requirements of the modern times thus achieving the maximum success of every learner, dynamic development of the educational institution and competitiveness in the educational space of Moscow.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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