Organisation and responsibility for Course QA
The Quality Assurance of Study Courses (CdS) is a constituent element of the management, monitoring and measurement of the dynamics governing teaching, knowledge and know-how.
Study courses, in particular, are at the heart of the educational mission of higher education institutions. They are designed through the design of one or more output figures, defined through the identification of their scientific, cultural and/or professional characteristics and, consistently, of the training paths leading to the acquisition of the specific knowledge and skills associated with the output profiles.
Course design must involve students and external stakeholders most appropriate to the character and objectives of the course. The external stakeholders of the degree course include all the actors and organisations and institutions potentially interested in the cultural and professional profile of the graduates designed by the degree course (organisations representing the production of goods and services, the professions and/or - if considered appropriate to the project - scientific societies, research centres, academic and cultural institutions of national or international relevance, etc.). Where functional to the proposed project, stakeholders may be represented by a Steering Committee, composed of a representation of the Department's faculty and representatives from the world of work, culture and research representing the stakeholders of one or more study courses.
Courses of study should be constantly updated, reflecting the most advanced knowledge in the disciplines, also with a view to the continuation of studies in subsequent cycles, ensuring interchange with the world of research and the world of work.
COURSE OF STUDY - REVIEW GROUP - QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGER
For the purposes of Quality Assurance, each Degree course is required to
- apply, as far as it is concerned, the policies and general guidelines for quality established by the governing bodies;
- carry out self-assessment and review of its training and the management of the degree according to the analysis reported in the annual report of the CPDS and the data provided by ANVUR, the Evaluation Committee and the Management and Control Division, also comparing itself with similar Committees with a view to benchmarking;
- promoting continuous improvement and evaluating its effectiveness;
- implementing the evaluation of teaching according to what has been set up at the University level.
The Degree course, through its President, is also responsible for the information reported in the ANVUR documents (SUA-CdS, Annual Monitoring Form, Cyclic Review Report).
To this end, each course establishes a Review Group (RG) composed of figures from within the school itself who are able to contribute to the evaluation of the course from various points of view (teaching staff, technical-administrative staff, students).
The Course Council is normally composed of the Course President, the Quality Assurance Manager (RAQ), a student representative and an Education Manager from the Course Department. The RG has the task of guiding the Degree course towards the goal of continuous improvement of its results. The RG manages the process of self-evaluation, i.e. the process by which the Course Council monitors its own performance and assesses its own results, also in accordance with the guidelines established by ANVUR.
In the course of the self-assessment process, the Course Council examines everything that can contribute to the analysis of the results of the Degree course and, in particular:
- the availability of contextual services (tutoring, internationalisation, guidance, internships, etc.); - consultation with the socio-economic system of reference (including the Steering Committee, sector studies, specific meetings with social partners); - the availability of resources (human and infrastructural); - student opinion on teaching, the organisation of the Degree course and the learning pathway; any other information provided by the RAQ, the Education Manager and the Coordinator/Director of the Quality Assurance office.
The work of the RG takes the form of the compilation of an Annual Monitoring Form and the drafting of the Cyclic Review Report, which is discussed within the Council of the relevant Degree course and forwarded to the PQA and the University Evaluation Committee.
Finally, the Quality Assurance Manager (RAQ) has the function of monitoring and verifying the proper implementation of the improvement actions approved by the Degree course. The RAQ is identified from among the teaching staff members of the Degree course.
Department Quality Assurance In this context, the role of the Departments is of primary importance, as they are fundamental organisational structures for carrying out scientific research, teaching and training activities, as well as for the transfer of knowledge and innovation and for related or ancillary external activities. The Director and the Department Council are the Department Governing Bodies responsible for defining the Quality Assurance Policies for Department Research and Teaching.
Within each department, a Departmental Quality Assurance Committee (DQP) is established as an operational and liaison body between the department and the University Quality Assurance Committee
The PQD:
- spreads the culture of Quality; - applies, as far as it is concerned, the policies and general guidelines for Quality established by the Governing Bodies of the University; - assists the Course Presidents in the drafting of the course QA documents (SUA-CdS, Cyclic Review Report, Annual Monitoring Form) - supports the Director and the Department Council in the definition of policies and objectives for research quality and QA and third mission; - promotes continuous improvement in research and teaching through self-evaluation activities and evaluates the effectiveness of the actions taken.
In addition, the PQD, through the Departmental Education Manager (provided for by the Framework Regulation for the Functioning of Departments), liaises with the Departmental Teaching Committee, a committee with the function of supporting the Director in carrying out his/her responsibilities in teaching matters (provided for by the Framework Regulation for the Functioning of Departments), while, through the Departmental Delegate for Research Quality and Third Mission, it verifies the regular performance of the procedures for the drafting of the SUA-RD.
DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR
According to the Statute, the Director has the function of promoting, guiding and coordinating scientific activities. It supervises research and third mission activities and oversees their evaluation. The Director is assisted by the Departmental Delegate for Research Quality and Third Mission who is entrusted with the following tasks:
- support in the definition of the Department's research quality and third mission policies, with the identification of indicators that take into account the teaching commitment but also the quality of research and technology transfer activities; - definition of the Department's research quality and third mission assurance procedures; - annual monitoring of research products (as defined by ANVUR in the VQR call and in the SUA-RD), both in quantitative and qualitative terms; - structured management of the Department's public engagement activities.
The Director is responsible for the information reported in the QA documents (SUA-RD and any other policy documents of the Department).
JOINT COMMITTEE OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
Pursuant to the Statute and the University Teaching Rules and Regulations and the Framework Regulation for the functioning of Departments, the Joint Committe of Teachers and Students (CPDS) of Departments are established, composed of a member of the teaching staff and a student for each Degree course belonging to the Department. The CPDS, if deemed necessary, may be subdivided into subcommittees. And chaired by one of the tenured Professors.
The CPDS is a permanent observatory on teaching activities. The CPDS:
- monitors the course catalogue and the quality of teaching, as well as the service provided to students by professors and researchers within the Department; - expresses an opinion on the consistency between the credits assigned to educational activities and the specific educational objectives; - It identifies and monitors indicators for the evaluation of results; - it formulates opinions on the activation and suppression of degree programmes; - it analyses data and information on the range of courses on offer and the quality of teaching; - it submits proposals to the Evaluation Committee for the improvement of the quality and effectiveness of teaching structures; - it monitors the indicators that measure the degree of achievement of teaching objectives at the level of individual structures.
By 31 December of each year, the CPDS draws up a report in accordance with the quality assurance regulations and forwards it to the Course Presidents attached to the Department, to the Director of the Department, to the Coordinator of the University Quality Assurance Committee and to the Coordinator of the University Evaluation Committee.
DEPARTMENTAL STRUCTURES
At the departmental structure level, coordination in all typical departmental administrative and management activities is carried out by the Responsible Administrative Manager (RAG). Among other functions, the RAG oversees and coordinates:
- activities concerning administrative support to the institutional activities of teaching, including front-office work with students, as far as it is concerned, in relation to the department's courses, the course catalogue, the evaluation and self-evaluation of courses, overseeing the processes inherent to the accreditation and quality of study courses administrative support for institutional research activities and the third mission, including technology transfer, research grants, research scholarships, overseeing the processes inherent to the quality of research and the departmental third mission.
In the field of didactics, according to the University's functional chart, the RAG can call upon the services of a Didactics Quality Service Coordinator (cat. EP), who coordinates, in cooperation with the RAG, the typical support activities for didactics, the course catalogue, the front office with students as far as it is concerned, and the quality of courses, including PhD programmes. It coordinates the department's teaching contacts; it coordinates advising and guidance initiatives; it coordinates the admission processes to study courses and the management of tutoring and undergraduate activities; it supports the Course Presidents, the Joint Committee of Teachers and Students and the SAGs of the study courses hinged on the Department. It coordinates activities related to internships, traineeships and international mobility. It performs functional staff coordination. It operates in functional connection with the teaching area.
Alternatively, the RAG can call upon the services of a Head of Service for Teaching Quality (cat. D) who guarantees, under the coordination of the RAG, the supervision of the typical teaching support activities as outlined above.
