Quality Assurance Academy 2022
Event Details
The Quality Assurance Academy (QAA) is a comprehensive training offer for business schools’ quality assurance professionals. It focuses on developing leadership competencies and managerial skills to meet the diverse professional
Event Details
The Quality Assurance Academy (QAA) is a comprehensive training offer for business schools’ quality assurance professionals. It focuses on developing leadership competencies and managerial skills to meet the diverse professional challenges encountered daily in quality assurance/quality management (QA/QM) work in business schools. The QAA cuts across all major quality assurance frameworks to develop and refine the participants’ understanding of the underlying methodologies and their purpose. Therefore, it is seen as a general qualification opportunity rather than training to support a specific accreditation project.
The QAA is offered to the EFMD membership and the wider business school community in partnership with Academ by RimaOne.
TARGET GROUP
The QAA is offered to any quality assurance professional, either currently employed or in-between jobs. The design has been built around the needs of business schools, but professionals filling similar roles on the university level or in other faculties are most welcome to apply as well. No restrictions have been set regarding seniority and experience, but the typical applicant will have up to three years of QA-specific experience.
STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAMME
The QAA consists of three block weeks, and each block week includes two modules of four hours each (five hours including breaks). It emphasises leadership training with insights into strategy and change management techniques (Modules 1 and 6) as well as core quality management skills with a focus on analysing the writing process and communication (Modules 2 and 5). The programme is complemented by training sessions in data/information management (Module 3) and project management (Module 4).
Each block week will require approx. a half-day of preparatory work. Participants will need to invest the same amount of time in completing the intermediate assessments after block weeks 1 and 2. The capstone assessment after block week 3 will involve approx. two days of work and will be customised around a current professional challenge the participant is facing.
LEARNING GOALS
The QAA represents a unique opportunity to develop the competencies necessary to lead and manage a quality assurance agenda of a business school with international ambitions while being cognizant of national/cultural constraints. The offer is built around key skills a quality assurance professional should have, in addition to deep insights into the mechanics of delivering management education.
Specifically, participants will improve and enhance their capacity:
- to analyse quality gaps between the institutional status quo and external quality reference frameworks,
- to assemble evidence, synthesize and compile a QA-focused narrative that represents the school’s quality improvement trajectory,
- to manage projects so that to fulfil project objectives on time and with budgetary limits,
- to lead teams with authority and to lead sideways and upwards with limited authority,
- to communicate on the institutional quality agenda verbally and in writing.
PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE
After successfully completing the programme, participants will receive the “Certified Quality Assurance Professional” certificate from EFMD Global. It will serve as a professional distinction signalling the bearer’s qualification to conduct quality assurance work in tertiary education.
Graduation is based on two intermediate assessments and the capstone assessment and the overall point score received.
The workshop will be delivered online (using Zoom). To ensure the best Zoom experience, we recommend that you install the latest version of the Zoom Client for Meetings, if you are not familiar with Zoom, you can test the tool via this weblink.
Facilitators for the Quality Assurance Academy
- Anna Blombäck, Jönköping International Business School
- Ulrich Hommel, EBS Business School & XOLAS (*Programme Director)
- Julie Perrin-Halot, Grenoble Ecole de Management
- Kai Peters, Coventry University
- Benjamin Stévenin, RimaOne
- Sarah Vaughan, ICN Business School
Mentors for the Quality Assurance Academy
- Kirsteen Daly, Adam Smith Business School
- Christina Green, TUM School of Management
- Sverre Gundersen, BI Norwegian Business School
- Bethan Jones-Davies, The University of Liverpool Management School
- Björn Kjellander, Jönköping International Business School
- Petra Kreis-Hoyer, RheinMain University (*Mentor Coordinator)
- Adam Thomas, University of St.Gallen
Programme
Monday 12 September 2022
15:00 – 16:30 CEST
Informal kick-off meeting
Let’s gather informally to break the ice, meet your fellow participants and also our superb group of mentors and facilitators.
Friday 16 September 2022
14:30 – 16:30 CEST
Group round-table around prep work for the block week 1 (modules 1 & 2)
Get together in small groups with your assigned mentor to discuss the preparatory work you’ve done throughout the week.
Monday 19 September 2022
14:00 – 19:00 CEST
MODULE 1: Empowered Leadership for Quality Assurance
- Julie Perrin-Halot
Behind the tools and techniques that quality managers use to drive continuous quality improvement in their schools, leadership skills empower their professional roles and help to make quality assurance a highly effective means for achieving operational and strategic excellence in their schools. Leadership skills also enable bringing purpose and meaning to what we do.
This opening module of the programme will explore the softer skills that facilitate leadership of the institutional quality assurance agenda. It will help participants to unpack what it means to “lead’ as a quality manager and explore how their role fits into the wider leadership grid of their schools. The module will also serve to reinforce the role of leadership in the quality manager’s toolbox and to support participants in looking at ways to help those they lead to understand the greater purpose, the “why”, of what they do.
Friday 23 September 2022
14:00 – 19:00 CEST
MODULE 2: Communication in QA – A matter of adjustment and balance
- Anna Blombäck
Being responsible for quality assurance implies being “the spider in the web” and having connections with all levels and functions within the school. Not all colleagues are enthusiastic about quality assurance, though, and some might perceive the quality manager as a source of non-compensated work tasks.
Communication has a crucial role to play in quality assurance for getting a wide range of stakeholders committed to the school’s quality work and related goals. In this module, we will discuss the influence of stakeholders, the organisation, and our individual approaches to communication, on the planning and execution of communication in quality assurance management.
Friday 7 October 2022
14:30 – 16:30 CEST
Group round-table around prep work for the block week 2 (modules 3 & 4)
Get together in small groups with your assigned mentor to discuss the preparatory work you’ve done throughout the week.
Monday 10 October 2022
14:00 – 19:00 CEST
MODULE 3: “Sapere Aude” (Dare to Know): Data as a Competitive Advantage
- Benjamin Stévenin
This module aims at developing a deeper understanding and appreciation of a typical business school’s Information System framework. Participants will explore how properly managed data can enhance quality assurance/management (QA/M) outcomes. They will furthermore review different systems in place to create a better approach toward data management linked to Quality processes. We will look at various schools’ examples and the different solutions they have put in place to create data repositories and how they ensure the quality and granularity of data to provide the most accurate and meaningful basis for reporting. We will also analyse different best practices that Higher Education Institutions and different sectors have done to re-think their data process to create clear information management.
Friday 14 October 2022
14:00 – 19:00 CEST
MODULE 4: Mastering the Double Hurdle: Managing Projects Successfully and Managing Successful Projects!
- Ulrich Hommel
Quality assurance work is like managing a series of projects, some running side by side, others ordered as sequential tasks. This module focuses on a portfolio of techniques that help participants and the teams around them at home to get organised. It involves developing project plans, assembling and managing teams (not all belonging to a quality assurance department), aligning schedules, factoring in risks (budget and deadline overruns) and, most importantly, achieving and maintaining clarity on project goals and communicating effectively on outcomes. Resource management is key as quality assurance work often relies on shared and temporary resources.
The module will also tackle some of the common challenges of managing quality assurance projects such as lack of due diligence to confirm project feasibility, scope creeping as quality assurance professionals are “shooting at a moving (school) target”, milestone tracking and problem feedbacking as well as conflict management within project teams.
Participants will furthermore be able to familiarise themselves with simple process modelling tools that can help them simplify and structure their day-to-day work. Simple exercises will demonstrate the benefits in comparison to an ad hoc approach. The standards of the Project Management Institute will serve as a reference.
Friday 28 October 2022
14:30 – 16:30 CEST
Group round-table around prep work for the block week 3 (modules 5 & 6)
Get together in small groups with your assigned mentor to discuss the preparatory work you’ve done throughout the week.
Monday 31 October 2022
14:00 – 19:00 CET
MODULE 5: Positioning a Business School for Success: Structuring your School’s Accreditation Story
- Sarah Vaughan
Positioning your Business School’s story for accreditation purposes holds particular challenges, requiring you to evidence and persuade, through aggregate analysis of data, that you occupy a distinctive place for prospective students, students, faculty, alumni, community partners, accreditation agencies and donors. The process of preparing your self-assessment and strategic documents, whether for an initial or re-accreditation, brings together all stakeholder groups. Maintaining their engagement across the timeframe is critical and requires strong leadership skills and internal “marketing”.
This module will explore ideas, practical tools and best practices to contextualise and leverage regional, national and international requirements for your internal stakeholder groups, in order to construct and disseminate a persuasive, compelling and data-informed business school narrative. It will identify the key phases of project communication with internal and external audiences, including integrating external accreditation feedback into actionable plans and strategies to guide improvements.
Friday 4 November 2022
14:00 – 19:00 CET
MODULE 6: Seeing What is Next: Potential Futures for HE and the Role of QA
- Kai Peters
The focus of this module is to contextualise the centrality of quality assurance within a framework of systemic relationships and emerging trends. Quality has internal, institutional, national, and international components covering both the right to practice as well as the recognition of quality through accreditations and rankings. Numerous challenges arise for joint ventures and joint degrees, through online education, trans-national education, professional bodies and through stackable degrees.
Using strategic management and change management techniques, this module seeks to position QA professionals at the heart of institutional thinking.
Monday 12 December & Tuesday 13 December 2022
Capstone project oral defenses – exact timing to be communicated later on
Thursday 15 December 2022
15:00 – 17:00 CET
Graduation ceremony
Practical information
APPLICATION PROCESS
- Kindly fill in the online application form.
- Make sure you have the following documents at hand when doing so: professional CV, motivational essay, supporting statement by your superior (optional only).
- Your application will be reviewed by the Programme Director and the Mentor Coordinator, who have a final say in acceptance decisions.
- Once admitted, your learning journey can commence!
TUITION FEES
- EFMD member: EUR 1.600
- Non-member: EUR 1.900
A 20% discount on the applicable fee is available for every second and further participants coming from the same institution.
A 50% discount on the applicable fee is available for the representatives of the institutions currently involved in the EDAF process. In this case, the above-mentioned 20% discount doesn’t apply.
Should that be your case, please contact Andrea Maresova prior to registering online.
The fee is payable prior to the programme by bank transfer/credit card. Please make sure to register at your earliest convenience (but not later than 7 September 2022 to be able to start on time with the preparatory work for the programme).
Cancellation policy: cancellations must be confirmed in writing before 5 September 2022 and a cancellation fee amounting to EUR 100 for administrative costs will be charged. After the above-mentioned deadline, we are unfortunately unable to refund any fees. However, in such cases substitutes are welcomed at no extra cost as long as the name, title and address of the substitute are communicated enough time ahead.
Speakers
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Adam Thomas
Accreditation and Quality Manager University of St.Gallen, Switzerland
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Anna Blombäck
Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives, Jönköping International Business School, Sweden
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Benjamin Stevenin
CEO RimaOne & Co-creator of ACADEM Learning in Innovations
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Bethan Jones-Davies
Service Quality Manager, The University of Liverpool Management School, UK
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Björn Kjellander
Director of Quality Assurance and Accreditation Jönköping International Business School, Sweden
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Christina Green
Head of Quality Management, TUM School of Management, Germany
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Julie Perrin-Halot
Associate Dean - Director of Quality, Strategic Planning and Sustainability, Grenoble Ecole de Management, France
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Kai Peters
Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Business & Law, Coventry University, UK
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Kirsteen Daly
Accreditations, Rankings and Communication Manager at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, UK
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Petra Kreis-Hoyer
Petra Kreis-Hoyer
Head of Studies & Teaching Divison, RheinMain University, Germany
Head of Studies & Teaching Divison, RheinMain University, Germany
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Sarah Vaughan
Senior Academic Advisor, France
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Sverre Gundersen
Head of Accreditations and Rankings, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway
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Ulrich Hommel
Managing Director, XOLAS; Professor of Finance, EBS University of Business & Law
Contact
Time
september 12 (monday) 15:00 - december 15 (thursday) 17:00