Inspection: Gap in higher education oversight still not closed

The Education Inspectorate is once again warning that accreditation body NVAO and the Inspectorate itself cannot intervene in the meantime if something goes wrong with the quality of education in a programme. Examination boards only partly make up for that gap.

In the annual State of Education report published on Wednesday, the Inspectorate once again identifies blind spots in quality oversight in higher education. Programmes are assessed once every six years by quality assurance body NVAO, but if something goes wrong before then, the NVAO cannot step in.

Mismanagement

Especially now that many universities of applied sciences and research universities have to cut costs and programmes are being phased out, the Inspectorate sees this as a major shortcoming. The Inspectorate itself can only act if laws and regulations are violated and there may be mismanagement. In 2024, for example, it published an investigation into TU Delft after signals that social safety there was at risk.

In an interview with the Higher Education Press Agency, inspector general Alida Oppers said last year that the Inspectorate is increasingly conducting investigations at universities and universities of applied sciences when there are suspicions of mismanagement, but if ‘only’ the quality of education is at stake, it cannot. Now, the Inspectorate reiterates: “To safeguard the quality of education for all students, the oversight gap must be closed.”

Examination boards

According to the Inspectorate, an important role is also reserved for examination boards, which must guarantee the value of diplomas.

Most examination boards manage this reasonably well. But their financial support has been lacking for much longer, the Inspectorate stated last autumn. Examination boards complain that they have too little time. As a result, major educational innovations are sometimes approved too hastily, without the new curriculum and assessment plan being fully thought through. “That entails risks for quality”, the Inspectorate said.