Accreditation and Evaluation in the European Higher Education Area


Book Description

This volume presents a rich account of the development of accreditation and evaluation in 20 European countries. It shows how accreditation is becoming a main mechanism in the steering of higher education across Europe. The book is unique in its analysis of forces driving towards the spread of different models of accreditation in the emerging European Higher Education area.




Accreditation and Assessment of Journalism Education in Europe


Book Description

How is journalism training in Europe accredited and assessed? State organisations and the media industry influence the objectives, content and structures of such training through their accreditation. They set quality standards and, at the same time, interfere in its autonomy. Through studies of twelve countries, this volume shows how accreditation influences journalism training in Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Russia, Georgia, France, Spain, Hungary and Romania. The second part of the book provides a comparative analysis of these studies, deals with the ACEJMC's more than seventy years of experience in journalism studies accreditation in the USA and shows how the interdisciplinary accreditation of journalism study programmes is organised in Europe. The editor is a professor of journalism at Jade Hochschule in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Her research focuses on journalism education and media freedom.







Accreditation and Evaluation in the European Higher Education Area


Book Description

This volume presents a rich account of the development of accreditation and evaluation in 20 European countries. It shows how accreditation is becoming a main mechanism in the steering of higher education across Europe. The book is unique in its analysis of forces driving towards the spread of different models of accreditation in the emerging European Higher Education area.




Exemplars of Assessment in Higher Education


Book Description

Co-published with “While assessment may feel to constituents like an activity of accountability simply for accreditors, it is most appropriate to approach assessment as an activity of accountability for students. Assessment results that improve institutional effectiveness, heighten student learning, and better align resources serve to make institutions stronger for the benefit of their students, and those results also serve the institution or program well during the holistic evaluation required through accreditation.” – from the foreword by Heather Perfetti, President of the Middle States Commission on Higher EducationColleges and universities struggle to understand precisely what is being asked for by accreditors, and this book answers that question by sharing examples of success reported by schools specifically recommended by accreditors. This compendium gathers examples of assessment practice in twenty-four higher education institutions: twenty-three in the U.S. and one in Australia. All institutions represented in this book were suggested by their accreditor as having an effective assessment approach in one or more of the following assessment focused areas: assessment in the disciplines, co-curricular, course/program/institutional assessment, equity and inclusion, general education, online learning, program review, scholarship of teaching and learning, student learning, or technology. These examples recommended by accrediting agencies makes this a unique contribution to the assessment literature.The book is organized in four parts. Part One is focused on student learning and assessment and includes ten chapters. The primary focus for Part Two is student learning assessment from a disciplinary perspective and includes four chapters. Part Three has a faculty engagement and assessment focus, and Part Four includes four chapters on institutional effectiveness and assessment, with a focus on strategic planning.This book is a publication of the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE), an organization of practitioners interested in using effective assessment practice to document and improve student learning.




Journalism Education in Europe and North America


Book Description

This work takes stock of the different ways that lead into journalism in Europe and in North America at a moment when much change is taking place in the media systems and in journalism education. This lays the ground for further analyses and comparisons of the way journalists are trained.




The European Higher Education Area


Book Description

This volume presents the state of the art with respect to the most important elements of the Bologna process. The reflections on the past are also used to fuel the debate on the next decade.




Assessing Quality in European Higher Education Institutions


Book Description

European higher education institutions are facing in these last years a number of relevant political and social changes that have asked for more transparency, accountability, comparability and legitimacy of degrees. In light of these new challenges, the great majority of universities have responded by implementing quality assurance processes, either through evaluation or through accreditation. This book collects the evaluation and accreditation experiences gathered by higher education institutions in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and Sweden. It provides a synthetic picture of the present state of quality assurance practices in Europe and offers a few lessons for a future European dimension of quality assurance.




Media Education in Action


Book Description

Media Education (ME) has come a long way. Today, it can no longer be considered a field of study reserved for semiotic and communication researchers. Nor can it be regarded as a privileged practice of those teachers, who for some reason consider media of fundamental importance. On one hand, ME is now part of the agenda of international organizations, which consider the development of media competences a necessary requisite to fully exercise citizenship in the current contemporary society. On the other, ME practices are becoming increasingly widespread in schools involving a growing number of teachers. Notwithstanding, teaching the media still seems to be a rather solipsistic task where «everything is fine». Indeed, in ME there is a tremendous lack of research concerning the educational practices' quality and effectiveness. This book tries to cope with these issues by providing a set of instruments to design, develop and evaluate ME activities in schools, and supporting the enhancement of media educators' knowledge and skills.




The European Higher Education Area


Book Description

Bridging the gap between higher education research and policy making was always a challenge, but the recent calls for more evidence-based policies have opened a window of unprecedented opportunity for researchers to bring more contributions to shaping the future of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Encouraged by the success of the 2011 first edition, Romania and Armenia have organised a 2nd edition of the Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers’ Conference (FOHE-BPRC) in November 2014, with the support of the Italian Presidency of the European Union and as part of the official EHEA agenda. Reuniting over 170 researchers from more than 30 countries, the event was a forum to debate the trends and challenges faced by higher education today and look at the future of European cooperation in higher education. The research volumes offer unique insights regarding the state of affairs of European higher education and research, as well as forward-looking policy proposals. More than 50 articles focus on essential themes in higher education: Internationalization of higher education; Financing and governance; Excellence and the diversification of missions; Teaching, learning and student engagement; Equity and the social dimension of higher education; Education, research and innovation; Quality assurance, The impacts of the Bologna Process on the EHEA and beyond and Evidence-based policies in higher education. "The Bologna process was launched at a time of great optimism about the future of the European project – to which, of course, the reform of higher education across the continent has made a major contribution. Today, for the present, that optimism has faded as economic troubles have accumulated in the Euro-zone, political tensions have been increased on issues such as immigration and armed conflict has broken out in Ukraine. There is clearly a risk that, against this troubled background, the Bologna process itself may falter. There are already signs that it has been downgraded in some countries with evidence of political withdrawal. All the more reason for the voice of higher education researchers to be heard. Since the first conference they have established themselves as powerful stakeholders in the development of the EHEA, who are helping to maintain the momentum of the Bologna process. Their pivotal role has been strengthened by the second Bucharest conference." Peter Scott, Institute of Education, London (General Rapporteur of the FOHE-BPRC first edition)