By Sophie Guillet, High Council for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (Hcéres), and Caroline Olsson, Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ)
Over the past 25 years, discussions on the external quality assurance (EQA) of higher education at European level have focused mainly on learning and teaching, although the ministers of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) noted that “the efforts to introduce structural change and improve the quality of teaching should not detract from the effort to strengthen research and innovation. We therefore emphasise the importance of research and research training in maintaining and improving the quality of and enhancing the competitiveness and attractiveness of the EHEA” (Bergen communiqué, 2005). Additionally, there is limited available literature on the subject, which is often confused with research assessment.
This is why an ENQA working group of 16 agencies* investigated the topic of the EQA of research in higher education institutions, which is of growing interest in the EHEA, and is pleased to announce the publication of a new report on the topic. The study coins the concept of EQA of research as “an all-embracing term referring to a regular process of reviewing (monitoring, guaranteeing, maintaining, and enhancing) the quality of the research environment at HEIs, including its interrelation with the education and societal impact missions of HEIs.”
This report presents the major trends related to the EQA of research that were identified through the analysis of a survey and interviews, and provides agencies with some reflective questions for developing or implementing EQA of research activities. The results show that 17 out of the 59 agencies surveyed do not engage in the EQA of research and those willing to do so face two significant challenges: the lack of a supportive national framework and the reluctance of HEIs.
Among the 42 agencies that reported to be already involved in the EQA of research, most carry out the EQA of research at the institutional and programme levels and, to a lesser extent, at the level of the research units that are part of HEIs. Their procedures mostly cover the following aspects (grouped in three main themes):
- General aspects of research management and policy: organisation and management of research, research policy and strategy, and quality assurance policy for research.
- Research environment: research infrastructure, libraries and archives as well as collaboration and mutual learning with other bodies engaged in the research.
- The link between research and learning and teaching: impact of research on the curricula and researchers’ involvement in teaching activities.
Testimonies from the agencies show that close collaboration with their stakeholders and integrative EQA approaches, consisting of embedding EQA of research in the overall review of HEIs, were considered to be success factors. The study identified three main types of challenges to the successful implementation of EQA of research, including the lack of existing European or international guidelines and a dispersed national system with multiple actors involved in the EQA of research.
In order to be effective and impactful, we invite all stakeholders get involved in the discussions on the EQA of research in the EHEA and the European Research Area, and go beyond the scope of this report, which focuses on EQA carried out by quality assurance agencies.
*A3ES (Portugal), ACSUCYL (Spain), ANVUR (Italy), AQ Austria, ANQA (Armenia), ASHE (Croatia), CTI (France), EQ-Arts, evalag (Germany), HAKA (Estonia), Hcéres (France), IAQA (Iceland), MAB (Hungary), NCEQE (Georgia), THEQC (Türkiye), UKÄ (Sweden)