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15UDC 37
SELF-EVALUATION PROCESS AS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR OF QUALITY
ASSURANCE SYSTEM
©Ismailov A., Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
ПРОЦЕСС САМОУПРАВЛЕНИЯ КАК ВАЖНЫЙ ФАКТОР СИСТЕМЫ
ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ КАЧЕСТВА
©Исмаилов А., Министерство высшего и среднего специального образования Республики Узбекистан, г. Ташкент, Узбекистан
Abstract. The system of internal evaluation and self-assessment, being the main part of ensuring the quality of education in higher education institutions, requires periodic monitoring and implementation of practical measures by the staff of the university. The proposed model of self-assessment within the framework of this study is significant with the fact that it was conducted in a higher educational institution. The fact that the elements and analysis were online and were posted on the website increases the practical importance of this scientific research. The proposed model for assessing education in a higher education institution is an auxiliary tool for the management of the university for analyzing and describing the general state of the institution and also serves to increase the participation of students, professors, teachers and representatives of production.
Аннотация. Система внутренней оценки и самооценки являясь основной частью обеспечения качества образования в высших учебных заведениях, требует периодический контроль и осуществления практических мер со стороны коллектива вуза. Предложенная модель самооценки в рамках данного исследования является значимой с тем, что проведен в высшем образовательном учреждении. То, что элементы и анализа проходили в режиме онлайн и были размешены на веб-сайте, увеличивает практическое значение данного научного исследования. Предложенная модель оценки образования в высшем учебном заведении является вспомогательным инструментом руководства вуза для анализа и описания общего состояния заведения, а также служит увеличению участия студентов, профессора-преподавателей, представителей производства.
Keywords: quality assurance, higher education, self-evaluation, students, stakeholders.
Ключевые слова: обеспечение качества, высшее образование, самооценка, студенты, заинтересованные сторона.
Higher education, research and innovation play a crucial role in supporting social cohesion, economic growth and global competitiveness. Given the desire for European societies to become increasingly knowledge-based, higher education is an essential component of socio-economic and cultural development. At the same time, an increasing demand for skills and competencies requires higher education to respond in new ways (Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG). (2015). Brussels, Belgium).
Erasmus+ program of the European Union plays an important role in development of educational system, through sharing experience of European and World scientists. "IQAT:
Enhancing capacities in implementation of institutional quality assurance systems and typology using bologna process principles" created a wide range opportunities to learn and share the leading experience of developed countries for several higher educational institutions of Uzbekistan, including Tashkent chemical-technological institute. Within this thesis the author tried to disseminate their experience in the framework of IQAT project.
European experience in the field of quality assurance in universities were studied and developed reasonable recommendations for the implementation of tools of European standards to improve the quality of higher education at the institutional level. The comprehension and generalization of the accumulated experience of the transformations taking place in the educational sphere of Uzbekistan and foreign countries, and the formation of the scientific and methodological foundations of the system of innovative management of higher educational institution.
Demonstration of the Implementation of European standards principles and tools for quality assurance at the level of higher education institution in Uzbekistan that meet the modern requirements is considered as main task of the thesis.
In the framework of the research, the regulatory and legal acts and legislation of foreign countries and Uzbekistan in the field of quality assurance had been studied. Based on the accumulated experience, research and test results, a model is developed as a quality assurance tool. In the implementation of the model in the university it was decided to focus the university on certain quality improvement tools. The Tashkent chemical-technological institute focused its attention on carrying out self-evaluation, developing links with research institutes, manufacturing enterprises, and developing an information management system for the educational process.
The subject of the research is the development of the potential of the institute in issues related to modern strategies and tools for quality assurance, which serves to raise the ranking, attract students and external stakeholders in the implementation of quality assurance work at the institute, development of recommendations for improving the quality assurance system and self-assessment of higher education institution.
As a significant reforms in Uzbekistan higher education system, it should be noted that the Presidential Decrees "On further development of higher educational system" (April 20, 2017) and "On measures to further expand the participation of industries and economic sectors in improving the quality of training of specialists with higher education" were important factors and started the new era of the education development.
The presidential decree envisages a radical improvement of the system of higher education, a radical revision of the content of training in accordance with the priority tasks of the country's social and economic development, providing the necessary conditions for training specialists with higher education at the level of international standards. Development of educational programs using the advanced experience of developed countries, training and retraining personnel abroad, and involvement leading foreign specialists into educational process and others consist the main aspects of the Decree.
One of the cardinal changes which the decree means is the organization of the Inspection of quality control of education under the Cabinet of Ministers. In the past the only department was responsible for the quality assurance [1-2].
Subject areas of evaluation and major activities carried out
The role of quality assurance is crucial in supporting higher education systems and institutions in responding to these changes while ensuring the qualifications achieved by students and their experience of higher education remain at the forefront of institutional missions. A key goal of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area
(ESG) is to contribute to the common understanding of quality assurance for learning and teaching across borders and among all stakeholders.
The ESG are used by institutions and quality assurance agencies as a reference document for internal and external quality assurance systems in higher education. Moreover, they are used by the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR), which is responsible for the register of quality assurance agencies that comply with the ESG. In order to complete the process of self-evaluation, the official decree of the Institute's Rector was announced which include the main steps. The decree served to involve large-scale employees and students into the evaluation procedure and to improve its effectiveness. Four main areas were chosen to provide self-evaluation procedure (Table 1).
Table 1.
SELF-EVALUATION PROCEDURE
Activities Relevance in ESG
Evaluation of the study program by students; ESG 1.3|Student-centered learning, teaching and
assessment;
Evaluation the teaching quality of teachers by other ESG 1.5 Teaching staff; colleague through mutual visiting;
Evaluation of graduates by external stakeholders; ESG 1.8 Public information;
Improving the visibility and attractiveness of the ESG 1.9 On-going monitoring and periodic review website; of programmes.
This thesis is oriented to describe the results of the self-evaluation in the example of evaluation of the study program by students and evaluation by the external stakeholders.
The method used for evaluation of selected activities Several sociologic methods like as questionnaire between students, questionnaire between representatives of industrial companies, content analysis of legal documents, statistical and empirical data of the institute, mutual visiting were used to assess while providing the self-evaluation process.
Evaluation of study program by students Students' survey's questions have been prepared with strong collaboration of IQAT project partners. Thanks to Latvian and Czech colleagues for deeply help and cooperation. The questionnaire is oriented to evaluate the study program by the students, and it includes 3 parts with 5 questions each, and 3 other questions. The answers of the respondents were collected and analyzed. Separately results of 18 questions of the survey was shown separately. Better to note that questionnaire consisted 4 parts, every 5 questions formed one group of quality. For instance, 1-5 questions gave the results about the resources, next 6-10 questions about the process, 11-15 questions about the results. The last 3 questions were oriented to identify the self-satisfaction of students from studying at the institute. Totally 18 questions are aimed to assess the resources, process and results. The survey is anonymous and it is available in the University information system. Graduates are asked to fill the survey. Students were asked to evaluate materials, equipment and organisation of study process and gained study results (Table 2).
Table 2.
CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENTS' QUESTIONNAIRE
General In general I am satisfied with the choice of this study program
Degree of difficulty of the study program was adequate for me
Study program prepared me for further carrier development
Resources Studies have appropriate material technical backup
Responsive and available administrate staff
Relevant resources offered by library
Good organization of study activities
Process In general satisfactory offer, contents and sequence of study courses in the study program The use of electronic educational and methodical complexes in conducting classes
The necessary information on study process easily available Opportunities for international experience offered by TCTI were sufficient
Results I acquired good theoretical and practical knowledge in my studies During my studies I developed ability to take complex decisions evaluating information critically During my studies I
upgraded my communication skills I developed skills to apply my knowledge in practical activity
Distribution
The TCTI team paid more attention to attract as more as possible respondents in survey procedure. In order to involve more respondents and reaching the free access, student's survey was distributed in three ways: online through website, face-book, telegram messenger and filling papers during the classes as well. The announcement about the ongoing questionnaire was distributed between students of all the faculties and placed in the news list of the TCTI official website, Facebook account and telegram messenger. It's important to mention that the logo of IQAT project was used as link button, in announcements, news list of TCTI web page. More than 3000 students and staff from all four faculties have been informed about the on-going survey within IQAT project. Total 223 students especially higher years of students took part in the survey and asked to assess the program. The link of the student's survey was established in the official website of the institute (www.tkti.uz).
The results of the students' survey show the general analysis of the questionnaire. It is seen the share of the positive and negative answers of the respondents. Taking into account that more that 76,5% agreed with the all process and criteria, it may be considered that the questions had been chosen well, and it presented current challenges. The only aspect, which we should pay attention is that 66,6% respondents consider the material-technical backup is positive, only 27,9% of them are completely and rather disagree with it (Figures 1-2).
Evaluation by external stakeholders
Evaluation process was organized as a survey by the representatives of industrial companies where majority graduates of Tashkent chemical-technological institute were employed. The questions of the survey were developed in three languages taking into account the specialization and national cultural aspects of the institute. The representatives were asked to evaluate the knowledge and skills of the graduates of Tashkent chemical technological institute and relationship between company and institute. At the end of the survey, recommendations on improving the quality of graduates and relationship were kindly asked. The proposal of the questionnaire is as following. It
Бюллетень науки и практики / Bulletin of Science and Practice http ://www.bulletennauki.com
Т. 4. №11. 2018
includes 4 parts, like as evaluation of graduates — 12 questions, about changes for the last years, relationship with institute and recommendations. The survey was provided online and paper version. The link of the survey was established in the official website of the institute (www.tkti.uz) https://goo.gl/forms/0392EkrKdXY1yamv1.
35,6
41
38,3
44,1
40,5
52,3
III
25,7
8,1 7,7
-1-1-1-1-1-1-г
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
i Completely agree k Rather agree i Neutral Rather disagree i Total disagree
9
8
1. I acquired good theoretical and practical knowledge in my studies
2. I developed skills to apply my knowledge in practical activity during my studies
3. During my studies I developed ability to take complex decisions evaluating information critically
4. During my studies I upgraded my communication skills (writing, presentation, discussion, teamwork)
5. During my studies I further developed my skills of general use (foreign language, specialist software, ability to organize my work)
6. In general I am satisfied with the choice of this study program
7. Degree of difficulty of the study program was adequate for me
8. Study program prepared me for further carrier development
i completely disagree rather disagree neutral rather agree k completely agree
Figure 1. Results of Students' questionnaire.
The respondents involved into the process. Seven main companies were chosen to be involved into evaluation process. While selecting the companies to involve into survey, more attention was paid to the ones where mostly graduates of Tashkent chemical-technological institute work and complete joint research projects. Total 114 respondents from all 7 industrial companies like as the leading company in refining of gas and production of gas products, production of soda, production of sugar products, production of dried and wet fruits took part in the survey.
i Low и Satisfactory м Average MGood и Excclcnt
1. The participation of employers in the development of study programs
2. cooperation between the departments of specialization and employers
3. undergraduate students practice
4. innovative exchanges of scientific and technical information
Figure 2. Results of the evaluation by external stakeholders.
Conclusions
The main potential of innovative development of Uzbekistan is concentrated in higher educational institutions and its level is directly determined by the quality of higher education, therefore one of the main directions of modernization of education in Uzbekistan is the development of variational models for quality management of higher education.
Analyzing the essential characteristics and determining the quality of education of partners universities, we can come to the conclusion that the quality of education is a multidimensional, complex concept that is determined by the consensus of all stakeholders on the harmonization of requirements, is described through a system of value-oriented, objective, content, organizational and other properties that are correlated with social norms.
We define the quality of education as the degree of conformity of the educational system not only to the requirements of standards and normative documents, but also to the requirements of consumers of all categories. It is an integral characteristic and result of the educational system.
European experience in the field of quality assurance in universities was studied and developed reasonable recommendations for the implementation of tools of European standards and guidelines to improve the quality of higher education at the institutional level. The comprehensive and generalized of the accumulated experience of the transformations taking place in the educational sphere of Uzbekistan and foreign countries, and the formed the scientific and methodological foundations of the system of innovative management of higher educational institution.
Implemented the modern models and tools for quality assurance at the institutional level that slightly met the requirements of ESG for quality assurance in higher education.
In the framework of this thesis, regulatory and legal acts and legislation in the field of quality assurance, the quality assurance model of various European universities were studied. Based on the accumulated experience, research and test results, a model was developed as a quality assurance tool. In the implementation of the model in the university it was decided to focus the university on certain quality improvement tools. The Tashkent chemical-technological institute focused its attention on carrying out self-assessment, developing links with research institutes, manufacturing enterprises, and developing an information management system for the educational process.
The implementation of ESG principles may serve to develop the potential of the institute in issues related to modern strategies and tools for quality assurance, which serves to raise the ranking, attract students and external partners in the implementation of quality assurance work in universities, developed recommendations for improving the quality assurance system and self-assessment of higher education institution.
Internal quality assurance is one of the major elements of the education administration process that faculties and institutions in higher education have to perform systematically and continuously. As a result, Tashkent chemical technological institute was to prepare a report that assesses the educational quality internally. Thus, the internal quality assurance was to audit and assess the practice of faculties and units of the institute according to the system and mechanism established by the institution by analysing and comparing the results based on indicators of all quality components according to predetermined criteria and standards. Higher education stakeholders should be seen as one of the most important elements in the internal quality assurance of the institute, therefore special mechanisms should be established to make them pro-active participants of the internal quality assurance.
Sources:
1. Act On Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, 29.08.1997.
2. Act On national program for personnel training of the Republic of Uzbekistan 29.08.1997.
3. Presidential Decree no. PP-2909 "On further development of higher educational system" from April 20, 2017.
4. Presidential decree no. PP-3151 "On measures to further expanding the participation of spheres and economic sectors in improving the quality of training of specialists with higher education", July 27, 2017.
5. The Council Recommendation (98/561/EC) on European Cooperation in Quality Assurance in Higher Education, Brussels 1998.
6. The Statute of the Accreditation Commission. The Secretariat of the Accreditation Commission, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (Karmelitska 7, 118 12 Prague 1), 1998.
7. Higher Education in the Czech Republic. Prague, Centre for Higher Education Studies and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic 2001.
Источники:
1. Закон «Об образовании» Республики Узбекистан, 29.08.1997.
2. Закон «О национальной программе подготовки кадров» Республики Узбекистан 29.08.1997.
3. Указ Президента .№1111-2909 «О дальнейшем развитии системы высшего образования» от 20 апреля 2017 г.
4. Указ Президента .№1111-3151 «О мерах по дальнейшему расширению участия сфер и отраслей экономики в повышении качества подготовки специалистов с высшим образованием», 27 июля 2017 г.
5. Рекомендация Совета (98/561/EC) о европейском сотрудничестве в области обеспечения качества в высшем образовании, Брюссель, 1998 г.
6. Устав Комиссии по аккредитации. Секретариат Комиссии по аккредитации Министерства образования, молодежи и спорта Чешской Республики (Кармелицкая 7, 118 12 Прага 1), 1998 г.
7. Высшее образование в Чешской Республике. Прага, Центр исследований в области высшего образования и Министерство образования, молодежи и спорта Чешской Республики, 2001 г.
References:
1. Ismailov, A., Turabdjanov, S., Babakhanova, Z., & Makhsudov, S. (2017). Current challenges of improvement of quality assurance systems in higher education institutions. In:
Conference "Bologna principles and quality assurance at EU and Central Asian HEIs ", Tashkent, 5-77 September.
2. Ismailov, A., Mutalov, Sh., & Babakhanova, Z. (2017). Practice of implementation of European standards in the educational process: with the example of Tashkent chemical-technological institute. In International seminar proceedings, Astana. 72-86.
Список литературы:
1. Исмаилов А., Турабджанов С., Бабаханова З., Махсудов С. Введение принципов ЭСУ в высшие учебные заведения // Актуальные проблемы усовершенствования системы обеспечения качества в высших образовательных учреждениях: мат. научно-практической конференции, Ташкент, (5-7 сентября 2017 г). Ташкент, 2017.
2. Исмаилов А. М., Муталов Ш., Бабаханова З., Хабибуллаев Р. Практика реализации европейских стандартов в учебном процессе: на примере Ташкентского химико-технологического института // Болонские принципы и обеспечение качества в вузах ЕС и Центральной Азии: мат. международной конференции. Астана, 2017. С. 72-86.
Работа поступила Принята к публикации
в редакцию 11.10.2018 г. 16.10.2018 г.
Ссылка для цитирования:
Ismailov A. Self-evaluation process as an important factor of quality assurance system // Бюллетень науки и практики. 2018. Т. 4. №11. С. 494-501. Режим доступа: http://www.bulletennauki.com/ismailov (дата обращения 15.11.2018).
Cite as (APA):
Ismailov, A. (2018). Self-evaluation process as an important factor of quality assurance system. Bulletin of Science and Practice, 4(11), 494-501. (in Russian).
