Handbook of Quality Management in Education Exports

Handbook of Quality Management in Education Exports

KARELIA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

Publication Series B:22 Chief Editor Kari Tiainen Editors Riina Siikanen and Mervi Leminen

Graphic Design and Layout Salla Anttila @ Authors and Karelia University of Applied Sciences ISBN 978-952-275-126-3 (printed) ISBN 978-952-275-127-0 (online publication) ISSN-L 2323-6876 ISSN 2323-6876 Grano Oy, Joensuu, 2014

Content Foreword 5

National quality assurance criteria for Finnish higher education institutions 6 Evaluation of Higher Education 7 Universities of Applied Sciences in Finland 9 Quality management in UAS’s 10 Value Chain 12 Quality management in mapping and planning 14 Quality management in doing 16 Quality management in evaluation and development 20 Summary of the Best Practises 22

Foreword This handbook presents the final conclusions of the KOLARIproject carried out by Karelia University of Applied Sciences (Karelia UAS). The aim of the project was to identify and document the best practises of quality management, as well as to analyse the possible risks in the context of education exports.

These documented practises and risk analysis are focused on in this handbook.

In the beginning of the project, people from different exporting companies were being interviewed to benchmark their practises and knowhow of exporting goods and services. In addition, at this stage it was important to clarify the need for this kind of quality and risk analysis in Karelia UAS. Based on several interviews and the SWOT-analysis, a strong demand for quality and risk analysis in education exports had turned out in two previous reports of this project. These documents are confidential in order to secure and respect the business secrets. The best practises were documented by analysing three different cases of Karelia UAS, where educational activities were planned and

put into practise. Each case was treated as a pilot. The pilots were chosen as examples of different elements of the quality management system of Karelia UAS. The award-winning system follows the PDCA (plan, do, check, act) cycle and therefore, it was applicable to risk management analysis as well. The best practises were documented through observing the documents, and also by participating in and observing one international training session.

Thank you for all the people and organisations who contributed to the KOLARI-project and to the preparing of this handbook.

Special compliments to the financiers: Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, European Social Fund, and Joensuu Regional Development Company JOSEK. In Joensuu 29 May 2014 Riina Siikanen Project Planning Officer

Mervi Leminen Project Manager

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Quality

NATIONAL QUALITY ASSURANCE CRITERIA FOR FINNISH HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Global education market European Higher Education Area

NATIONAL STEERING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY (MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE)

FINNISH CENTRE FOR EVALUATION OF EDUCATION / FINNISH HIGHER EDUCATION EVALUATION COUNCIL

QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION

LEGISLATION

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OPERATING LICENCES

» t arget and performance management (TASO) » decision-making » authoritative evaluation

» national evaluation responsibility »a uditing of quality assurance systems » c entre of excellence and thematic evaluations

»m ain responsibility for the quality and development of operations » organisation of quality management »p articipation in external evaluations

DECISIONS ON DEGREE PROGRAMMES

Evaluation

Evaluation of Higher Education The Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council (FINHEEC) is an independent expert body assisting universities, universities of applied sciences, and the Ministry of Education and Culture in matters relating to evaluation, and thus contributes to improving the quality of higher education.

FINHEEC aims at guaranteeing the expertise in evaluations of higher education institutions and in clarifying the European quality assurance criteria. It conducts the audits of quality assurance systems of higher education institutions.

Even though FINHEEC creates opportunities for quality assurance, the UAS’s have the final responsibility for the quality of the activities they perform.

Source: www.finheec.fi

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UAS

Universities of Applied Sciences in Finland Finnish higher education consists of two complementary sectors: universities and universities of applied sciences (UAS).

Universities promote research and provide academic higher education based on research, whereas UAS’s are in charge of professional or ‘vocational’ higher education. UAS’s are municipal or private institutions, which are authorised by the government. The authorisation determines their educational mission, fields of education, student numbers and location. UAS’s have autonomy in their internal affairs.

UAS graduates are professionally oriented experts in their own fields. Highly skilled students with professional competencies graduate from UAS’s. The acquired skills are applicable already during the studies in projects carried out in working life, various assignments, thesis and the compulsory practical training. The BA and MA degrees provide the knowledge and competencies for further studies.

Sources: www.studyinfinland.fi, www.minedu.fi

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Quality

Quality management in UAS’s Despite the national quality assurance system, every higher education institution (HEI) has to monitor its processes. The quality management system might be a separate system, or for example incorporated into the enterprise resource management system, likewise in Karelia UAS. The risk analysis should follow the HEI’s strategy. This guarantees that the intrinsic aspects are focused on in the analysis. Thus, it serves the purpose.

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The aim of quality management is continuous development

Quality Management

Plan

» Proposals » Training arrangements

Contracts

Act

Development

QUALITY MANAGEMENT

» Developing activities

Stakeholders

Staff

Do Operational processes

» Actual realisation of training

Implementation

Supporting activities

Check

Feedback » Gathering feedback » Self-evaluation

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Quality Management

Value chain Value chain is used to describe the phases that an organisation has to go through to successfully deliver a service or a product.

These phases have to be recognised in order to identify the smaller phases that support the core activities. Quality management has to be taken into consideration throughout the whole process.

The identified value chain follows the PDCA cycle of the quality management system of Karelia UAS. Based on the analysis of the cases, a separate “mapping� phase was added to the model.

This includes all the important background work that has to be done before the actual planning can begin.

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Quality management has to be taken into consideration throughout the whole process.

Quality Management Communication

Contract

Networks

Selling

Market research

Proposal/Offer

Mapping

Plan

Billing

Do

Feedback

Check

Act

Stakeholders

QUALITY MANAGEMENT

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Mapping

Plan

Quality management in mapping and planning Planning is often stated to be the most important phase of the process. Carefully completed mapping guarantees a good starting point for planning. Consequently, a well managed and implemented planning process affects the whole upcoming process. Careful planning plays an important role when aspiring excellent outcome. The planning phase includes also the identification of the stakeholders. Before the implementation of the plan can be done, several aspects, such as preparing the business transaction and drawing up a contract, have to be taken notice of in order to avoid risks.

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The most important aspects of the mapping and planning phases are: »» Background work »» Identification of the strong areas »» Identification of the stakeholders and the focus group »» First drafts of the contracts »» Making cost calculations

Mapping

Plan

Identified risks POSSIBLE RISK

EXAMPLE OF SOLUTION

There are not enough human resources

Networks, effective HR planning

Activities are not cost-effective

Careful and cost-effective business planning and cost calculation, targets for profit margin

Client is not financially stable

Advance payments

No contracts have been made or they do not cover certain things

Official contracts and agreements about collaboration, fixing the contracts

There are not enough information about the client

Background work

Cultural differences cause problems and misunderstandings

Careful background work, cultural sensitivity

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Do

Quality management in doing The work that is done in the planning phase becomes concrete in the doing phase. The execution of the plan should follow the standard procedure of the organisation, for instance when trainings etc. are carried out. Each person involved in the process should have a clear view of one’s tasks and responsibilities. This includes managing the stakeholders’ actions and their influence on the process. The risks in this phase can be avoided or at least reduced by careful planning.

The most important aspects of the doing phase are: »» Identification of the target group »» Use of the local networks »» Communication and cooperation with stakeholders and clients »» Careful background work about the client and the cultural background (if not done earlier) »» Stakeholders’ management actions

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Do

Identified risks POSSIBLE RISK

EXAMPLE OF SOLUTION

Customers are not listened to

Effective communication with customers and stakeholders

Client is unsatisfied

Better communication, taking client as part of the planning process

The original plan does not work

Evaluating the plan and possibly even changing it, flexibility

Execution of the plan is not well done

Involving the people who are responsible of the implementation of the planning process, defining priorities

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Quality management through stakeholder relations

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NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STAKEHOLDERS

LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS

Key partners City councils Ministry of Education Experts Institutions

Partners Clients City councils Ministries Experts

SUPPORTING SERVICES

CUSTOMERS

Accommodation Travel agency Translators and interpreters Infrastructure Insurance company

Persons Organisations

Do

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Quality management in evaluation and development Gathering feedback is an essential part of the value chain.

However, even more important is the use of the data and reacting to the information. For example, in Karelia UAS an effective feedback system which covers students, staff and stakeholders, is used. The organisation’s own actions and also the stakeholders’ actions during the process should be focused on in evaluation. For instance following issues should be evaluated: »» Effectiveness and fluency of the collaboration »» Experience of the staff »» Price-quality ratio »» Customer orientation

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Check

Act

The most important aspects of the check and act phases are: »» Systematic feedback gathering »» Specifying contracts so that they still serve the purpose »» Finding more partners and other stakeholders, if necessary »» Reacting to the feedback and results of the evaluation »» Supporting better communication both in and outside the organisation

Check

Act

Identified risks POSSIBLE RISK

EXAMPLE OF SOLUTION

There are only verbal agreements or collaboration is between persons, not organisations

Formalising collaboration by agreements

Feedback is not gathered systematically and it is not comparable

Building a feedback system

Service is not developed

Gathering feedback and exploiting it

Departure of a key person with essential expertise

Transferring a key person’s personalised knowhow into organisation’s expertise by e.g productisation

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Summary

Summary of the Best Practises »» To identify the stakeholders of the value chain »» To choose partners carefully and aim to establish long-term relationships with the stakeholders »» To formalise the collaboration by contracts and MOUs »» To communicate effectively with the stakeholders »» To build a management system for stakeholder relations »» To plan activities well »» To build an effective feedback system »» To react to the feedback and to the needs of the stakeholders »» Actively develop activities and take the stakeholders as part of the planning process »» To reflect the previous activities and to learn from them

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Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) aims to evaluate education systems all over the world.

Finland has constantly scored high every test year which claims that the quality of the Finnish education system is stable and firm.

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www.karelia.fi