What happens during the audit 23-25 April?
What's the purpose of the audit?
The purpose of the quality assurance system's audit is to develop the quality of our activities and to receive an external appraisal of our strengths and weaknesses.
If The Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council (FINHEEC) finds our quality assurance system acceptable and our activities to be in accordance with it, our audit will be approved.
If on the other hand our system has significant deficiencies we will have two years time to rectify matters after which a partial re-audit of the deficient areas will take place.
A four-level set of criteria is used in the audit. The set of criteria contains descriptions of deficient, incipient, developing and advanced quality assurance of all the seven audit targets. Both the criteria as well as the targets of the audit can be found on the intranet http://www.kka.fi/pdf/muut/audit_krit_en.pdf
The five auditors appointed by FINHEEC will receive a material packet in advance which contains basic information about our school and activities together with examples and proof of their functionality.
What happens during the audit?
The audit days are 23-25 April and the audit starts on Wednesday morning and lasts until Friday at lunch time. The purpose of the audit is to verify and complete the received information of Vaasa University of Applied Sciences' Quality Assurance System.
During the first day of the audit visit the Quality Assurance System as a whole is examined. On the second day the auditors focus on the quality assurance of our degree education, research and development as well as other activities.
Who will be interviewed and what do the auditors want to know?
Based on the material sent to it in advance auditor group preliminarily selects the units to visit and persons to interview. These interviews will take approximately an hour and they will be carried out as group interviews.
Some of the units to be examined will receive knowledge of this during the visit. The auditor group also decides whom they want to talk to about the audit themes.
According to the preliminary plan the auditor group will spend the first day of the visit at the Raastuvankatu campus where the day will begin with an interview with the management group. The second day will be spent at the Wolffintie campus.
The interviewees will be asked questions about how practical matters are handled and whether our activities are in accordance with our quality assurance system.
The exact program will be specified closer to the visit date but the at least the following personnel groups will be interviewed by the auditors:
- The Managements Group and the Quality Manager
- The Heads of Department
- The Teaching Staff
- Students
- Representatives of Support Services
- The University of Applied Sciences' Interest Groups
How do I prepare for the audit?
Our everyday activities will be discussed during the audit; therefore no special preparation is required. It is however, worthwhile to familiarize yourself with the the school's operational structure presented on the intranet.
Further information
The targets and criteria of the audit can be found on the internet http://www.kka.fi/english/projects.lasso?id=893 . On the same page there is also more information about the audit process.
Suggestions for evidence on our quality assurance can be sent via e-mail to tarja.kettunen@puv.fi.
At the staff's development day 31, March the chairman of the auditor group Veijo Hintanen and FINHEEC's project coordinator Kirsi Hiltunen will be present for a more detailed discussion on the matters regarding the audit.
The students' and the staff's Quality Mornings will be held at the Raastuvankatu campus on 7 April and at the Wolffintie campus 8 April 2008.
Quality Manager Tarja Kettunen also provides additional information on the upcoming audit.