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Is your university an example of quality and innovation in ICT for learning? Find it out and apply now: unique@qualityfoundation.org

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Official Launch of UNIQUe

On the 12 June 2009, UNIQUe was officially launched at the EDEN conference. Prof. Gilly Salmon represented the awarded university of Leicester in an interview with Dr. Ulf Ehlers, the Vice-President of EFQUEL. See more details in the News-Section.

Awarded Bodies

The first universities and institutes have already been selected and received the UNIQUe certification, which honors the excellent use of ICT for learning and teaching:
  • TKK Dipoli (Helsinki University of Technology)
  • METID Centre (Politecnico di Milano)
  • Moscow University of Industry and Finance
  • School of Humanities (University of the Aegean)
  • University of Granada
  • University of Leicester
  • University of Macerata
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Process

The UNIQUe process is structured in six very distinct stages and offers a formalised approach in each of the steps.

The UNIQUe process involves six well-structured stages:


1. Inquiry

This is the first contact between the institution that wants to submit for accreditation and UNIQUe. UNIQUe will inform the institution about the process and will answer questions that the institution may have in this respect.

Interested institutions will have access to the UNIQUe accompanying information tools as described under point 4.

At the institution’s request, a standard package of information will be sent to them describing UNIQUe in more detail. By formally applying to enter into the process, an institution implicitly acknowledges that it has read the documents in the standard UNQUe package.


2. Application

Application to UNIQUe requires the submission to the UNIQUe office of a completed application data sheet which can be downloaded here. The data sheet is a short questionnaire that provides basic factual information about the university and allows a preliminary formal assessment of the university’s quality in comparison with the UNIQUe quality criteria.

Graph based on a design by Markus Wirth for the CEL accreditation scheme (2006)

Concerning language issues and how to compose the team in respect to the language the documents will be written and issued in English, and the universities should provide translators during the peer review/auditing.


3. Eligibility

Being declared eligible signifies that:
  • the application has been formally accepted
  • UNIQUe will work with the institution towards the twin objectives of quality improvement and future accreditation.

It is important to note that the declaration of eligibility to enter the process does not constitute any guarantee or any formal prediction of the university’s ultimate success in achieving accreditation.

After being declared eligible, a briefing session takes place by phone and will be done by the UNIQUe Office. Under exceptional circumstances, the briefing session may take place by means of a one-day visit to the institution.

The UNIQUe team recommends the visit as the preferred option but it is up to the university to choose to host the preliminary visit or not.  In the Piloting phase with 12 universities the modalities will be tested (a process without a preliminary visit or a process which includes a preliminary visit) in order to check if differences emerge and whether a final decision regarding the need for a preliminary visit needs to be taken.

The UNIQUe Supervisory Body will declare an institution eligible to begin the UNIQUe quality improvement and accreditation process if it can demonstrate that it satisfies the preliminary conditions set out below. This screening process is designed to ensure that a university:

  • Falls within the scope of the UNIQUe scheme
  • Has technology-enhanced learning initiatives
  • Has a reasonable prospect of satisfying the UNIQUe criteria within 3 years.

If a university is declared eligible, it is free to advance on to Stage 3 of the UNIQUe accreditation process: Self- Assessment (SA). The institution has three month to prepare a self-assessment report.

Universities are required to be part of the Virtual Learning Community, as it is an integral part of the UNIQUe learning experience.


4. Self-Assessment

During the eligibility briefing, the institution will be advised on how to initiate the Self-Assessment (SA) process. The aim of this advice is to ensure that the university’s management understands what is expected and how best to proceed.

The university management carries out an extensive self-evaluation and drafts a Self- Assessment Report (SAR).

The SAR is intended to be self-critical rather than promotional, and analytical as well as descriptive. The objective of the self-assessment and the accompanying report is to assist in the UNIQUe accreditation process and support the work of the audit team.

This self-evaluation process is designed to help the university management gain a clearer understanding of its strategic position by assessing its strengths and weaknesses, by measuring the principal constraints and opportunities determined by its environment, and by looking realistically at the coherence between its ambition and its resources. The process is also designed to lead the institution to judge the overall effectiveness of its own processes.

This stage of the accreditation process is expected to take between three to six months, but the duration is up to the institution. During this period, the university management may request advice and assistance in preparing its SAR.

Four copies of the Self-Assessment Report written in English are required. These should be submitted to the UNIQUe Office.

The self-assessment stage is a critical step in the accreditation process. The UNIQUe key criteria against which the Self-Assessment Report will be written are illustrated below. This analysis becomes a critical guide in the peer review stage of the process.

The self-assessment process should become an integral part of the school's quality system to lay out the basis for further quality improvement.

The self-assessment process requires the establishment of a continuous flow dialogue between all stakeholders of the institution. It provides ownership to all of the institution's stakeholders, and further encourages collaboration in assessing the institution's strengths and weaknesses towards re-accreditation, which is required every three years.

Students should be included from the beginning in the peer review. Through the strict collaboration with ESIB, UNIQUe will have Students participation in the Quality label.


5. Peer Review

To prepare for the student interviews and the succeeding Audit Team Visit, the auditors thoroughly work through the Self-Assessment Report. As a major step within the UNIQUe accreditation process and to build up on a properly completed SAR, students will also be interviewed to include their views quality evaluation process.

The Audit Team Visit (ATV) lasts 1.5 days during which the UNIQUe auditors meet and interview a variety of people representing the university’s different activities and interests (e.g. students, tutors, authors, administrative personnel, instructors/trainers).

As soon as the management can estimate the amount of time needed for the Self- Assessment phase, the institution should contact the UNIQUe Office to schedule the ATV.

The date of the Audit Team Visit should be determined at least 3 months in advance. In estimating the date for the ATV, the management should take into account that the SAR must reach the UNIQUe Office at least 6 weeks prior to the date of the ATV.

During the peer review visits, the interview with the Rector is a must.

Six weeks before the ATV, the management needs also send a proposed audit visit schedule in accordance with the ATV guidelines. This schedule will be reviewed by the UNIQUe Office and changes proposed if needed.

The Audit Team will receive not only the SAR, but also to its application, the report from the UNIQUe expert who performed the eligibility briefing and a copy of the letter sent to the institution declaring the programme eligible. The tasks of the Audit Team and the characteristics and expectations of the ATV will be described in detail in separate documents.

The Audit Team that carries out the on-site visit is composed of two members.  One of the two auditors will be appointed chairperson by the UNIQUe Office. On receipt of the SAR, the chairperson may contact the other auditor to prepare the ATV. In each case, the ATV begins with a private meeting of the audit team members usually on the evening prior to the ATV. The aim of the meeting is to discuss the way in which they will organise their work during the Audit Team Visit and determine the issues on which emphasis should be placed.  Evaluators must have access to all levels of administration.

At the end of the ATV, the chairperson presents the management the audit team’s preliminary conclusions and recommendations for quality improvement during an oral feedback session. Based on these conclusions and recommendations, the management and the auditors will jointly discuss ways for improvement, including future steps that will be taken and measurable goals if applicable. The jointly agreed upon major steps for improvement will become part of the Audit Team report (ATR) and hence will be a part of the Awarding Body decision.

Subsequent to the ATV, the chairperson writes the Audit Team Report (ATR) setting out the Audit Team’s assessment of the university against the UNIQUe criteria and standards and including the steps agreed upon for future development. These recommendations and descriptions will be of three types:

  • Agreed upon developments: These are steps for improvement that have been jointly agreed upon between the management and the auditors at the end of the Audit Team Visit. The management is expected to follow these steps for improvement and report on progress within 1.5 years after successful accreditation.
  • Recommendations by the Audit Team: These are suggestions which the Audit Team, based on the professional experience of its members, believes to be helpful for the management to achieve its strategic objectives. The programme management is not obliged to follow these recommendations.
  • Besides the verbal description of the assessed quality, the auditors will also provide a detailed rating against the UNIQUe criteria (above-standard, to-standard, below- standard, not applicable) that sums up the Audit Team’s assessment

Next to the detailed report for the UNIQUe Awarding Body, the Audit Team Report (without recommendations for accreditation) will be made available to the institution.

Although the ATR has a very important impact on the accreditation decision to be taken by the Awarding Body, the Audit Team’s positive recommendation does not automatically result in accreditation. The UNIQUe accreditation process incorporates a strict separation of powers between the Audit Team and the Awarding Body members to guarantee that the accreditation decision will be taken as objectively as possible.

Call for peer-reviewers
We are inviting experts to review the UNIQUe methodology and/or to take part in the peer review visits to the candidate universities.
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6. Awarding Body

The UNIQUe Awarding Body makes the final decision on accreditation. The Awarding Body members will have a 2-week deadline to review the report and raise questions.  If too many questions remain open and the Awarding Body members do not get a comprehensive and comprehensible view and report on the university, the chairman - as a mean of internal quality assurance - can decide to send the report back to the Audit Team for revision. The chairman sets a reasonable timeframe during which the Audit Team will have to rework the Audit Team Report.

A conference call may be set up by the UNIQUe Office between the members of the Awarding Body. It lies within the duties of the Awarding Body’s chairman to check and proactively reveal and detect any potential conflicts of interest with the Awarding Body members. After eliminating potential conflict of interest issues, the Awarding Body members will inform the chairman of their vote. The voting is made by a simple majority of the Awarding Body members present.  To successfully vote on an accreditation, at least three members of the Awarding Body must be attendant.

The UNIQUe Office will inform the institutions of the results by telephone and will send an official confirmation letter to the management.

The results of the process can be:

  • accredited,
  • not accredited
  • candidate for accreditation (pending)

If an institution does not receive the accreditation (because some improvements are necessary) it will have 1 year time to reach the accreditation level required. In case it will not improve the required aspects or does not achieve the status of accredited (since the improvements to be introduce are too many and too fundamental) the university has to wait at least 2 years before re-candidate itself for the UNIQUe label.

The universities may decide to announce that they are in the process to get the UNIQUe quality label (e.g. they have been considered eligible or they are candidate) but UNIQUe consortia will only publicised those universities which got the full accreditation.

In line with the ENQA guidelines, summary reports of the accredited schools will be published by the UNIQUe office and will be made publicly available.

A successful UNIQUe accreditation is valid for three years. During this period, an institution may be published and marketed with the UNIQUe quality label. 

The institution is required to submit a development report to the UNIQUe Office after 18 months on how it is fulfilling the Audit Team’s recommendations and the steps agreed upon for the improvements included in the Audit Team Report. The Report on Results (RoR) will be taken into consideration during the re-accreditation process. The RoR should be at least 2 pages in length and must address all the steps agreed upon for improvement in the Audit Team Report.