April 1998 

Lectures on Joyce 
are  published. 

UCD Graduate Wins  
Architects' Award. 

Young Business Writers. 

Viewpoint. 

Report from the Governing 
Authority meeting on 10  
March. 

Facullty of Commerce 
Communications 
Competition 

Special Edition of 
Psychology Journal 

Brian Friel honoured by  
English Department. 

Award for excellence 

UCD Project puts the  
University at a leading 
edge. 
  

Other Issues 
 
E-mail: ucdnews@ucd.ie

The procedures are now mandatory under the Universities Act 1997 which requires them for the purpose of 'improving the quality of education and  
related services' provided by the University. But the President, Dr Cosgrove, says it would be counterproductive if they were undertaken merely to satisfy legal requirements.  
  
"The experience of those academic departments which volunteered for assessment since 1995 demonstrates the positive advantage to be gained from such an exercise," he says in a foreword to an explanatory booklet on the matter. "Every department can benefit from such a periodic review, and the extent of that benefit will be related to the enthusiasm and commitment which is brought to the implementation."  
  
In international terms it is not a new concept - since the early eighties such programmes have become an integral part of university institutions in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Holland and Denmark as well as several other countries.  

The legislation requires every department and every service unit to be assessed over a ten year period. The process involves a self evaluation and a review by peers of teaching, research, and administration and planning in each unit. A final report will  include recommendations for quality improvement. 

"It is important to stress that the procedures adopted here are not modelled on the UK experience," says Professor Don Mc Quillan of the Department of Mathematics, who has been seconded to the programme full-time for two years as Quality Assurance Director. "In Britain the system involved an internal inspectorate, and this caused a degree of disquiet. Here in Ireland, through the work of the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities, we have retained "ownership of the process within our institutions." 

In short, the system now being used in Ireland is based on that used by most universities in Europe. The first element in the procedures in the formation of a coordinating committee to prepare the self assessment report. Some of the data used for this report will be collected using questionnaires which will be completed by  students, staff, graduates and employers. In addition it is envisaged that in all cases there will be student representation on the coordinating committees. 

"This self-assessment report will be studied by a peer  review group selected by our office, consisting of three UCD academics and two external experts in the relevant discipline," says Professor McQuillan. "They will also visit the department in order to clarify and verify details of the self -assessment. At this point they will be available to meet with departmental members and students." 

In essence, the work of the review group will be to look at how the department views itself, assess whether it is fulfilling its aims and objectives, see if the students think they are getting a good deal, and decide if  the department is getting adequate back up from services such as computers and library. Following the presentation of any recommendations, further discussions will take place between the department, the Director of Quality Assurance and - if necessary - deans and College officers with a view to implementing the recommendations, ensuring continual quality improvement, and reviewing the self assessment procedures. "Some of these recommendations are going to cost money to implement, and then we will have to negotiate with deans and the College officers to see what is the best way forward, given the availability of resources. An advantage of having made the quality assessments in the way we are doing them is that we can also go to the HEA and seek extra funding where it is clear that it should be provided."  

The departments which took part in the pilot project were Biochemistry, Economics, Veterinary Physiology, Biochemistry, Banking & Finance, Botany, Pathology, Social Policy and Social Work, Food Science, Physiotherapy, and Psychology. Regardless of this, they will all undergo the 'real' procedures during the next five years as part of a phased programme involving all academic departments. "The Steering Committee learned much in the pilot programme," says  
Professor McQuillan. "There was a significant degree of apprehension in the beginning, but they went about their business in a very gentle way and developed a system which is minimally intrusive." In the Director of Quality Assurance's view, the Irish model is better than some other systems because it includes an emphasis on quality improvement rather than simply assessing quality levels. "We're all professionals, and we all want to make sure that we're doing the best courses for our students. This exercise will help to enhance a culture of good service throughout the university. And if there are shortfalls in resources we would hope that the College will so organise itself that money would be made available to do what has to be done". 

There are safe guards built in to the procedures to make sure that any negative reports about individuals within the departments do not enter the public arena. "If there is a poor report about a  teacher for instance only the head of the relevant department will know about it and the matter will be dealt with privately as part of the department's internal affairs. We are emphasising that this is a review of a department and not of individuals." 

Some concerns have been expressed that the results of the quality control exercises in all the universities might be used as the basis for preferential allocation of funding, but Professor McQuillan believes there in no intention  to set up "leagues of universities rated according to their efficiency and quality. "It seems to me that funding will be a matter for individual policies within the institutions. My own hope would be that the College will put aside some money that will be targeted at quality improvement. 

While the departmental effort is now well under way, the review of service units are currently at the stage of pilot programmes in a number of departments. But when the first round of exercise is completed within the stipulated ten-year period, it should not be the end of the process. 

"In fact, quite a lot of improvement will actually result from progress of the programme itself," says Professor Mc Quillan, who is being assisted in the organisation of the process by Paul Brown, lecturer in Business Administration, and JoyWheeler. "But I would hope that continuous improvement will become part of the ethos of each department, and that we will eventually evolve a "best practice" system.