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UvA receives positive recommendation on the Institutional Quality Assurance Audit

11 december 2024

The committee that visited the UvA in the context of the Institutional Quality Assurance Audit has given a positive recommendation about the quality assurance surrounding education. The advice to the Dutch-Flemish Accreditation Organisation (NVAO) is that the UvA meets all four assessment points. The Institutional Quality Assurance Audit takes place once every six years. This does not involve assessing individual programmes, but instead looks at how the UvA monitors the quality of its education.

TLCs an example for other universities

The committee was very impressed by the culture of quality and the openness that it experienced in the discussions with staff and students. The committee chair, former rector of Erasmus University Huibert Pols, called the design and implementation of the Teaching & Learning Centres (TLCs) a benchmark for other Dutch universities. The same applies to the management information system, although the panel does think that the UvA could provide better interpretation of all that quantitative data. The committee found education at the UvA to be very student-oriented. According to the committee, the UvA should be very proud of that.

Rector Magnificus Peter-Paul Verbeek responded enthusiastically: ‘This is a very good recommendation from the committee to the NVAO. I am proud of all the colleagues and students who helped prepare for the audit. Thank you!’

Points for improvement

As points for improvement, committee chair Pols mentioned the many consultations held in advance of new policies: ‘Sometimes just use a full stop instead of a comma.’ The committee also believes that the coherence between the educational vision, the strategic plan and policy could be improved. They suggest there is a lot of discussion on current issues within the UvA, which is good, but what could be improved is the recording and follow-up of agreements on improvements. According to the committee, the UvA should also think carefully about possibilities for increasing the attractiveness of participation in decision-making.

Final decision to follow

Finally, the chair of the committee indicated that this recommendation does not mean that the UvA has already passed the audit. The committee advises the board of the NVAO, which will make a final decision in the spring of 2025. If the final decision is positive, the UvA can have all its programmes accredited within a limited assessment framework for the next six years. This reduces the burden of accreditations.