Work package 7
QUALITY PLAN
Quality control and monitoring
Related assumptions and risks
A: Accreditation/ Recognition of the new courses;
A: Agreement on Quality control measures and indicators
R: Delays in supply or inadequate information required for reports
R: Timely implementation of accreditation/ review procedures
Description
Quality monitoring and quality assurance of the project is a continuous process. Final responsibility resides with the steering committee, while QUB (WP7 leader who is Quality Manager) is responsible for development and implementation of the Quality Plan that includes Quality standards and procedures.
The Quality Manager reports to the Project coordinator and aims to ensure that the deliverables of the project are fit for purpose, is consistent and meets both external and internal requirements. This includes regulatory compliance. The Quality Manager conducts quality assurance activities like audits and reviews to ensure that processes and procedures in the project are sufficient for their purpose and are applied and followed.
The role includes responsibility for:
• Devise and establish the project’s quality procedures, standards and specifications.
• Review project requirements and makes sure they are met.
• Compile, assess and set standards for quality.
• Establish and maintain control and documentation procedures.
• Monitor performance by gathering relevant data and produce quality reports.
• Make suggestions for changes and improvements and how to implement them.
• Manage reported deviations from the Quality Plan, either by ensuring that the Quality Plan is followed, or through a Change Request adapting the Quality Plan to better reflect the reality of the project.
Activities
7.1 Feedback meetings with Partner Board and Advisory board
7.2 Development of a Quality Plan
7.3 Quality monitoring of outputs, outcomes and processes
7.4 Internal and external audits
7.5. Validation and accreditation of the ECTS modules for all courses
Estimated Start and End Date (dd-mm-yyyy)
15-11-2019 – 14-11-2022
Lead Organisation
Participating Organisation
All partners and associate partners
Work package outcome 7.1
Feedback meetings with Partner Board, Advisory board, and steering committee
WP7 leader will organize and chair bi-annual meetings with the advisory board, partner board and steering committee members. Annual meetings will coincide with project meetings (9.2); in between, meetings will be held through videoconferences. Formal checks will be carried out in the weeks preceding each bi-annual meeting by the WP leader who will ask input from all involved partners in order to evaluate the quality of teams and intermediate products, processes, dissemination
and final outcomes according to agreed standards as laid down in the Quality plan. These checks will be reported to the boards and steering committee before the network meetings, and will be discussed in structured sessions during these meetings.
Due date
15-10-2022
Languages
EN
Dissemination
Department, International
Work package outcome 7.2
Development of a Quality Plan
The WP7 leader will guide the development of a Quality Plan including:
• Quality objectives – referring to the specifications of outputs and outcomes, use of outputs, management, task implementation, reporting
• Quality management approach – based on agile principles
• Quality Control of project outputs and outcomes
• Quality Assurance of processes.
• Quality Standards – measures that will be applied to assess quality
• Monitoring procedures – describing when and where monitoring takes place
• Change/modifications documentation procedure – indicating ways to track changes to the project or process.
• Description of roles and responsibilities – describing who does what and when
Due date
15-01-2020
Languages
EN, Cn
Dissemination
Consortium
Work package outcome 7.3
Quality monitoring of outputs, outcomes and processes
Quality monitoring of WP work processes, team, intermediate products and outputs will be carried out by the respective WP leaders who will use the Quality Plan (7.2) developed by the WP7 team and endorsed and controlled by the Advisory and Partner board as described above, through bi-annual checks in the weeks preceding each biannual meeting and through asking input from all involved taskforce members in order to evaluate the quality of teams and intermediate products, processes, and final outcomes according to agreed standards. These checks will also be reported to the boards and steering committee before the network meetings, and will be discussed in structured sessions during the meetings. In between these monitoring sessions, the WP leaders will check progress on a monthly base (or more frequent if need arises) and report any relevant issues and deviations from the planning to the principal coordinator who will inform the WP7 leader.
Due date
15-01-2020
Languages
EN, Cn
Dissemination
Consortium
Work package outcome 7.4
Internal and external audits
Yearly internal audits will be carried out by the Quality board, consisting of members of the advisory board, partner board, steering team committee and headed by the WP7 leader. The procedures used will be prescribed in the Quality Plan.
External audits will be performed by the independent Education Review board of each partner and, on a national level, by the Chinese Teaching Steering Committee (Chinese HEIs) and NVAO (RU) and through a Higher Education Review at QUB (see 7.5).
Due date
14-11-2022
Languages
EN, Cn
Dissemination
Department, Consortium
Work package outcome 7.5
Validation and accreditation of the ECTS modules for all courses
Accreditation of the materials will serve the purpose of formal recognition of ECTS in the institution/country where the materials are used. The Advisory board advises on accreditation, but the actual accrediting takes place locally. The new courses will and their integration in the dental curriculum will be evaluated and accredited by the following bodies:
China: The Higher Education Evaluation Centre under the Ministry of Education assesses all degree programs offered in Chinese higher educational institutions. The ministry appoints a Teaching Steering Committee to implement this task.
NJU: The Academics Affairs Office and the Graduate School of NJU review teaching plans (graduate and postgraduate) every 4 years. Next due date is 2022
WHU: The Academics Affairs Office review teaching plans every 5 years, next due date is 2023
QUB: Since the UK does not operate an accreditation system in the way it is done in China and most EU countries, at QUB, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) assesses quality at a 4-yearly base through a teams of qualified reviewers (including academic staff and students). This so-called higher education review is scheduled for QUB in 2021/ 2022.
RU: In the Netherlands, NVAO (Netherlands Flemish Accreditation Organization) assesses the internal quality assurance pursued by universities (research universities and universities of applied sciences), and the quality of the programmes they provide. Review teams evaluate the quality on a 6 yearly base; the next scheduled accreditation is in 2024.
Due date
14-11-2022
Languages
EN, Cn
Dissemination
Department, Institution, Consortium
