Quality Assurance
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Responsibilities and Procedures
Academic Quality
This section is designed as a guide to, and source of reference on, the principles, procedures and administrative practice upon which the College’s academic quality mechanisms are based. The College operates in the context of continuous development in the areas of quality assurance and quality enhancement. There are a range of bodies both internal and external to which College members, individually and collectively, are accountable for the quality and standard of academic provision. Internally, quality assurance procedures are developed on the basis that each member of College has personal responsibility for the maintenance of academic standards. External quality assurance is dealt by the Cyprus Agency of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education and the Cyprus Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth.
The College sees the definition, communication and enhancement of academic standards relating to a number of key aspects of College work:
In relation to each of these areas, the College has defined responsibilities resting with individuals or committees within the College for the:
The quality assurance procedures in place are sanctioned by and operate through the academic committee, department heads and faculty members. Part of the academic committee duties is to undertake checks, from time to time, to monitor the extent to which the College’s declared policies and procedures on academic issues are being followed. The academic committee and the quality assurance committee are responsible for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness in practice of the quality control mechanisms described in the internal regulations, College intranet and prospectus.
The Quality Assurance Committee meets 4 times in a Year. The exact dates are announced in advance relative to the procedures mentioned below.
What follows is a detailed description of the procedures involved in quality assurance.
Development and approval of a new program of study
Before a new program of study can be introduced it must obtain approval for its development. A suggestion for a new program of study may originate from a variety of sources: e.g. a faculty or administration member of the College, a student of the College or an external source. A suggestion for a new program of study may arise for various reasons, for example, identified niche market; student feedback; strategic opportunity; growth market. Suggestions for a new program of study are accompanied by a 2-4 page supporting document/paper that briefly includes:
• the proposed name, aims and description of the program; • the target market and evidence of market demand; and • need for special resources.
The proposal is placed on the agenda of the academic committee’s next scheduled meeting. The academic committee has to decide whether to proceed with the development of the proposal. If the committee is positive about the development of the new program it ratifies the composition of an ad hoc committee composed of a number of appropriate people that will develop the proposal and appoints a chairperson for the committee. The appointed members of the ad hoc committee must consist of people with experience/knowhow in the field of the particular program of study, people with experience in teaching, research and curriculum development. The committee consists of faculty members of the College and of external individuals (e.g. industry experts, alumni, members of professional associations). The committee’s chairperson will have the responsibility for steering the proposal through the development process. The committee’s chairperson will have responsibility for submitting to the academic committee members, before the due date set by the academic committee, the developed proposal. The developed proposal should include the following for the program of study:
A copy of the developed proposal is given to each member of the academic committee. The academic committee following a thorough evaluation of the proposal meets within 15 days in order to decide one of the following courses of action:
It is important that the proposal is initiated in sufficient time for all stages of the procedure for approval to be completed before the proposal is due to take effect. The Academic Committee will receive proposals no later than the 30th of June (15 months before the start of offering the program of study).
Once the developed proposal is approved, the College prepares the application for evaluation – accreditation of a program of study and any other documents and submits them to the Cyprus Agency of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education. Monitoring of quality of the education offered
Monitoring and evaluation is the process of systematically gathering and scrutinising relevant information and critical reflection on its significance. The purposes of these activities are:
The routine monitoring of academic provision is carried out throughout the year and is the formal responsibility of individual instructors through the academic committee.
A critical appraisal will normally cover a review of areas like:
Review and evaluation of an existing program of study
Every 2 years since the day a program of study started being offered is reviewed and evaluated by Academic Committee and Quality Assurance Committee in a joint meeting based on a report prepared by the program’s coordinator. The purpose of the review and evaluation is to facilitate continuing academic development and, where appropriate, change. The program’s coordinator report provides information on the following:
The report is provided to the Quality Assurance Committee and to the Academic Committee members and the discussion related to the particular program’s review is placed on the agenda of the Quality Assurance Committee’s and Academic Committee’s next scheduled joint meeting.
In the meeting, following a thorough examination of the report by committees’ members, the Quality Assurance Committee and the Academic Committee decide one of the following:
Revision of an existing program of study
Minor revisions related to a program of study (e.g. change in the syllabus of a course, change of main book) are implemented by the appropriate faculty members and approved by the appropriate Department Head. For any major revisions the procedure described below applies.
A suggestion for revising an existing program of study may originate from a variety of sources: e.g. a faculty or administration member of the College, a student of the College or an external stakeholder and should be presented to the academic committee for examination. It is important that the proposal is initiated in sufficient time for all stages of the procedure for approval to be completed before the proposal is due to take effect. The Academic Committee will receive proposals no later than the 28th of February (19 months before the start of offering the program of study).
The proposal is placed on the agenda of the academic committee’s next scheduled meeting. The academic committee has to decide whether to proceed with revising the existing program of study. If the committee is positive, it ratifies the composition of an ad hoc committee composed of appropriate members that will prepare a proposal regarding the revision of the program and appoints a chairperson for the committee. The appointed members of the ad hoc committee must consist of people with experience/knowhow in the field of the particular program of study, people with experience in teaching, research and curriculum development. The committee consists of faculty members of the College and of external individuals (e.g. industry experts, alumni, members of professional associations). The committee’s chairperson will have the responsibility for steering the proposal through the preparation of the proposal. The committee’s chairperson will have responsibility for submitting to the academic committee members, before the due date set by the academic committee, the developed proposal. The developed proposal should include the following for the program of study:
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QUALITY ASSURANCE committee
Responsibilities
The Committee is responsible for all matters related to maintaining and improving the quality of education provided by the College. Specifically, the Quality Assurance Committee is responsible for the following:
Apart from the above the committee is responsible for the following:
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Membership
The Committee is comprised of the following:
- Department Head responsible for the overall College academic affairs (Chairperson)
- Faculty member
- Faculty member
- Faculty member
- Member with experience in quality assurance
- Member with experience in quality assurance
- Undergraduate students’ representative
- Postgraduate student’s representative
- Administration staff representative
Note: One of the students’ representative must be a Distance Education student
Note: At least one student must be present
Note: Student’s representatives are appointed by the Student Union
Note: External Stakeholders can also participate as external consultants
Current Composition of the Quality Assurance Committee
NAME |
POSITION |
Dr Charalambos Louca |
Department Head responsible for the overall College academic affairs (Chairperson) |
Dr Yiannos Rossides |
Faculty member |
Dr Constantinos Iacovou |
Faculty member |
Dr Ifigenia Efthimiou |
Faculty member |
Dr Andreas Petasis |
Member with experience in quality assurance |
Dr Marios Americanos |
Member with experience in quality assurance |
Mr Efstathios Nikolaides |
Undergraduate students’ representative |
Mr Ioannis Sfakiotakis |
Postgraduate students’ representative |
Dr Dimitrios Tsagalas |
Administration staff representative |
Meetings
Past Meetings:
27/01/2021 – Complete and approve Annex 5 – Quality Standards and Indicators
25/06/2021 – Decision on Key performance indicators
16/07/2021 - Review and evaluation of existing programs of study
16/09/2021 – Assessing teaching and learning
Upcoming Meetings:
23/02/2022 – Internal institutional evaluation
09/05/2022 – Management and support services
18/07/2022 – Review and evaluation of existing programs of study
16/09/2022 – Assessing teaching and learning
Regularily of Meetings
Regularity of Meetings
The Quality Assurance Committee meets 4 times in a Year. The exact dates are announced in advance relative to the procedures mentioned above.