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Quality assurance in the FH sector
The FH Council is the authority responsible for external quality assurance. Quality assurance for education offered by the Fachhochschulen is of utmost importance in the Austrian FH sector. The high priority of quality assurance is a result of the modern regulatory framework conditions. In order to decentralise decision-making processes and deregulate the laws pertaining to the organisation of higher-education institutions and the courses they offer, education providers with a high degree of autonomy for self-organisation were created; they are organised under private law but are primarily publicly financed.
Austria was one of the first European countries that introduced an accreditation system for the FH sector.
External quality assurance procedures
In the Austrian FH sector the following external quality assurance procedures are carried out: initial- and re-accreditation of programmes and institutional evaluation.
A new FH degree programme, first of all, needs to be accredited by the FH Council, with the accreditation granted for a maximum of five years. After this approval period a re-accreditation is required. The institutions are periodically reviewed whereas this evaluation is focused on the institutions processes of assuring and enhancing the quality of the programmes. The results of the institutional evaluation shall be taken into account in the course of the re-accreditation procedures. |
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