Institutional Accreditation
In April 2015, the University of Tartu undergo institutional accreditation, an external evaluation carried out by the Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency (EKKA).
The EKKA Quality Assessment Council decided on 18 June to accredit the University of Tartu for seven years and awarded the university with the EKKA quality label.
EKKA`s decision based on the report of the international assessment committee. The committee assessed that the University of Tartu has efficient student support systems, the students are involved in the university’s governance and the increasingly higher level of students is in accordance with the university’s goal to train the country's leading intellectuals. The committee recommended the university to give more consideration to a certain tension between the university’s mission as the national university which ensures the continuity of Estonian intellectuals and language and culture and its vision to be a rapidly developing international research university. Read also press release about the EKKA`s decision.
Higher education institutions in Estonia have an obligation to undergo institutional accreditation at least once in seven years. For the University of Tartu it was the first time to go through this procedure in the course of which the conformity of the University’s activities and study and research environment with the institutional goals and development plan was assessed.
In the course of the accreditation the conformity of the university’s activities and study and research environment with the institutional goals and development plan will be assessed. As part of this process, at the beginning of 2015 the university prepared a self-evaluation report which assess the university’s performance in four sub-areas: organisational management and performance, teaching and learning, research, development and/or other creative activity, and service to society. The outcomes of the self-evaluation will be used to inform the drafting of the operational plan for implementing the university’s new development plan and its performance indicators.
See also university`s activity report 2014.
From 20 to 24 April 2015, the University of Tartu will host a site visit by an assessment committee who will review the university’s regulations, information systems and infrastructure, and conduct interviews with the employees, students, alumni and employers of the university. See the schedule of the visit and the video recording of the committees summary of the visit and preliminary conclusions from the UTTV.
Based on the results of the assessment visit and the self-evaluation report compiled by the University, the assessment committee will decide whether or not to accredit the University of Tartu for seven years. In addition to that, the committee may recognize individual assessment areas where the University has shown outstanding results and/or initiative, with a note of “worthy of recognition”.
Members of the assessment committee:
- Dr Gillian Mary King, Chairman of the Committee, Consultant of higher education, previously QAA Audit Deputy Director (United Kingdom)
- Dr Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen, President of Euroscience, Vice-President of EUA, previously rector of Aarhus University (Denmark)
- Dr Barbara A.Sawrey, Dean of the University of California, WASC Liaison Officer (United States of America)
- Tõnu Pekk, entrepreneur, SAGA Family Office, CEO (Estonia)
- Kert Pütsepp, University of Cambridge, King`s College, student (Estonia)
More information on the conditions and procedure of institutional accreditation is available on the Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency’s website. Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency is admitted to European Quality Assurance Register of Higher Education (EQAR).