Teaching and Learning Quality Management Unit

Universities in all German states are required to undertake regular quality assurance of their bachelor’s and master’s degree programs under an interstate treaty governing the accreditation of study programs. A key part of this is the accreditation of degree programs, which must be done regularly (at least once every eight years). Whilst the University of Bonn, with its over 200 degree programs, already has a wealth of experience in program accreditation, it is nonetheless aiming to accredit its degree programs itself as part of a formal system accreditation procedure based on an internal quality audit and thus to assume full responsibility for meeting its high quality standards and for reviewing and continuing to develop its degree programs. A positive system accreditation decision by the German Accreditation Council serves as confirmation that the University of Bonn’s quality management system for teaching and learning is capable of ensuring that qualification objectives and the quality standards for its degree programs are met.

Internal accreditation procedures at the University of Bonn are geared toward fostering the quality culture that is actively embraced within it and supplement the insights gained from the ongoing evaluation process with the views of external experts. They also serve to provide evidence of the fulfillment of requirements set externally, to identify areas with potential for development and to devise measures for optimizing the aspects covered in the relevant procedure. The University of Bonn’s internal accreditation procedures thus serve a range of purposes, including demonstrating legitimacy and accountability to the outside world, providing impetus, forging a sense of identification and, if relevant, laying the groundwork internally for ongoing development measures.

Courses, modules and whole degree programs are evaluated regularly for the purposes of systematic analysis and to ensure and improve the quality of teaching and learning in the spirit of a closed operational PDCA (“plan, do, check, act”) loop. The evaluation officers and evaluation project groups for the various subjects play an especially important role in this regard. They discuss and recommend interventional measures to improve the degree programs under their responsibility based on the results produced by various evaluation methods and instruments.

The Rectorate convenes inter-faculty meetings on a regular basis between it, the individual faculties and the BZL. Based on the faculties’ evaluation reports, these meetings provide a forum for discussing ideas and perspectives for development derived from the mission statement for teaching, for example, which are set out in framework agreements. These opportunities for dialogue ensure appropriate quality development for every aspect of the mission statement for teaching and close the PDCA loop at institutional level too.