For the time being, Erasmus University will not join in the ‘university self-accreditation’ pilot, Chairwoman of the Board of Governors Pauline van der Meer Mohr told the University Council on Tuesday afternoon.
From 2017 onwards, universities and universities of applied sciences will be able to take part in a pilot study whereby courses will no longer have to be reviewed individually by a committee of Dutch-Flemish Accreditation Agency (NVAO) representatives. Instead, they will be allowed to set up an internal quality control system and will be issued a form of blanket accreditation, which will involve an audit of the university’s quality control system.
EUR was interested in the scheme
VSNU, the Dutch Universities Association, originally wanted the pilot to involve all Dutch universities, but the Minister for Education, Culture and Sciences, Jet Bussemaker, was not too keen on that plan. She insisted in 2013 that three universities and three universities of applied sciences would join the scheme in 2017, and that another six universities and schools would be allowed to join in a year later.
Erasmus University was interested in taking part in the pilot, which is why the subject was put on the University Council’s agenda this month. The Council was requested to propose ideas as to how students could be involved in monitoring the quality of the university’s courses.
Non-issue
‘But frankly, it’s a bit of a non-issue at the moment,’ the Chairwoman of the Board of Governors, Pauline van der Meer Mohr, told the councillors on Tuesday afternoon. ‘We have decided not to be the first volunteers.’ The Chairwoman pointed out that there were other universities that had progressed further in their preparations and were really keen to join in the pilot. ‘At the moment, we’d rather dedicate ourselves to furthering our commitment to quality than to jumping through hoops for the accreditation pilot.’
It is not yet known whether the university wishes to take part in the university self-accreditation trial at a later date.
