Evaluations

FINHEEC conducts three principal types of evaluations:

• Audits of quality assurance systems of Higher Education Institutions (universities and polytechnics)
• Evaluations of educational centres of excellence
• Thematic evaluations and evaluations of educational fields

Audits are evaluations of higher education institutions' quality assurance systems, in other words, the methods, processes and mechanisms that the institution uses to maintain and develop the quality of its education and other activities.

Evaluations of centres of excellence are conducted separately in both the university and polytechnic sectors. FINHEEC submits a proposal to the Ministry of Education on the centres to be selected during each performance agreement period. The selected centres of excellence are awarded a performance-based appropriation from the Ministry.

For evaluations of educational fields and themes , FINHEEC applies the following criteria in choosing the targets of the evaluation: the field or theme must be significant with regard to education and society, it must be rapidly growing, developing or problematic. FINHEEC may also undertake evaluation projects under a mandate from the Ministry of Education, as is the case with evaluations of centres of excellence. FINHEEC usually performs a follow-up evaluation of the educational field or theme three years after the evaluation proper.

Moreover, FINHEEC conducts evaluations as contract work under commissions from HEIs and the Ministry of Education, provided that these fit thematically into FINHEEC's strategy. In practice, contracted evaluations have concerned only higher education institutions that are not administered by the Ministry of Education.

Evaluation processes

As far as evaluation processes are concerned, FINHEEC does not have a rigid, predetermined evaluation pattern that is applied in every project. In fact, the chosen methods can vary according to the target of the evaluation and phrasing of the evaluation questions.

At the beginning of each project, the objectives and implementation practices of the evaluation are defined. The perspective and suitable evaluation methods for the project are also specified at this stage. When deciding on the process and methods, FINHEEC actively strives to take the special characteristics of the evaluation target into consideration in order to achieve a coherent evaluation scheme that corresponds to the evaluation needs in the best possible way. This includes analysing the perspectives of the higher education units under review. The following outline, however, acts as a basic outline that most evaluation projects follow:

1.       The Council makes a decision on an evaluation and appoints a steering committee.

2.       The steering committee makes a proposition to the Council about the composition of an external evaluation team and prepares both a review and a project plan.

3.       The Council appoints the external evaluation team and approves the project plan.

4.       The HEIs under review compile self-evaluation reports for the external evaluation team.

5.       The external evaluation team visits the higher education institutions involved and writes a report on the evaluation.

6.       The evaluation report is published.