The SPEAQ Project
The aim of the SPEAQ project (Sharing Practice in Enhancing and Assuring Quality) is to connect three key quality circles: teacher, student and quality manager in order to share and enhance quality assurance practice in higher education. This project sets out to address a real concern that quality assurance can become ritualised rather than embedded in learning and teaching practice. The outcomes from this project will seed new ideas on how to approach quality assurance within the institution providing evidence of how bringing together stakeholders in the quality process can lead to a wider and more meaningful interpretation of quality assurance. It will collect data on different stakeholder perspectives on quality assurance and undertake small projects at institutional level which will explore ways in which a more shared vision of quality assurance can be fostered at institutional and disciplinary level. SPEAQ will be building on the work of the LanQua project (Language Network for Quality Assurance) which explored issues of quality in the context of the discipline of languages. It developed a toolkit (The LanQua Toolkit www.lanqua.eu) to support frontline (academic/academic support) staff in conceptualising and describing quality from their practice perspective.
Timescale
October, 2011 - September, 2013
Key contact(s):
Laurence Georgin, Project Manager LLAS
Funded by:
The EU Lifelong Learning Programme (Erasmus)
Project partners:
University of Aveiro (Portugal) , Babes-Bolyai University (Romania), Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), Deusto University (Spain), European Students Union (Belgium), Innsbruck University (Austria), University of Jyväskalä (Finland), Szged University (Hungary), University of Trento (Italy).
Project aims:
1. Create an interactive workshop to facilitate discussion between teachers (and teaching related staff), quality managers and students in order to share practice and to explore new ways in which quality assurance can be carried out within the university context
2. Collect data on stakeholder views of quality assurance and enhancement within their higher education experiences to elaborate and inform the nature of the three quality circles under consideration in this project
3. Evaluate, through small development projects, how new approaches can be implemented in practice
4. Provide examples, guides and activities to support others in replicating this project which will enhance and extend the resources in the LanQua Toolkit (see below)
5. Disseminate the project outcomes and raise the profile of practice-based approaches to quality assurance through presentation of evidence via major EU channels such as ENQA, EUA and ESU
6. Contribute to the debate on quality assurance in higher education through publication in an academic journal and presentations at key EU quality assurance conferences.
Outcomes:
1. Materials to support institutions in developing a more inclusive approach to quality assurance
2. Data on student and staff perspectives on quality assurance
3. Case studies from institutional quality projects
4. An updated version of the LanQua Toolkit in English, French, German and Spanish
5. A journal article about the project findings
6. Presentations at two major EU quality conferences
Links:
SPEAQ website: http://speaqproject.wordpress.com/
LanQua Toolkit: www.lanqua.eu
Lifelong learning programme: http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/doc78_en.htm
Further resources available on our website:
About the LanQua project: http://www.llas.ac.uk/projects/2862
