The Quality Assurance Work at Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education is Approved

The deficiencies from the 2022 review have been corrected, and the systematic quality work at Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education (QMUC) has been approved by NOKUT.

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Logo: Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education
Logo: Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education

NOKUT's board made a decision in line with the expert committee's conclusion. The committee states in its report that they have confidence that the institution's systematic quality work ensures and further develops the quality of education.

"With today's decision, QMUC meets the requirements for systematic quality work in laws and regulations," says NOKUT Director Kristin Vinje.

"We congratulate the university college on today's decision. Both the documentation and the institutional visit in the spring of 2024 showed that QMUC has taken the feedback from 2022 seriously and has actively worked to address the deficiencies that were identified at that time," says Kristin Vinje.

The expert committee that assessed QMUC's systematic quality work in 2022, concluded that the quality work had significant deficiencies. When NOKUT's board decides that an institution's quality work has "significant deficiencies," a new review with a new expert assessment is conducted. A new review was carried out in the spring of 2024.

The committee believes that QMUC has made good progress since the previous review and that the institution now has a quality system in place with routines that can support ongoing quality work. QMUC has had little time to demonstrate how the new quality system functions in practice, but the committee believes that the university college has sufficiently documented that the system and quality work now meet the minimum legal and regulatory requirements.

About QMUC

Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education (QMUC) was founded in 1947 and is Norway's second-oldest educational institution in its field. QMUC is an independent foundation affiliated with the Church of Norway and is accredited as a university college. As an accredited university college, QMUC can establish new study programs at bachelor-level without applying to NOKUT for accreditation. The college does not have self-accreditation authority for master’s and PhD-level programs.

QMUC is located at the Dalen campus in Trondheim, but also offers part-time education in Kristiansund. The university college has approximately 1,400 students and offers 24 different study programs in early childhood education at both bachelor’s and master’s levels, in full-time and part-time formats.

  • Abstract

    Norway’s national agency for quality assurance in Education (NOKUT) was established in 2003 with the mandate to review both the quality practices and the quality assurance work at the country’s higher education institutions. NOKUT abides by the European Standards and Guidelines 2015 (ESG) which are operationalised in three pieces of national legislation: the central Act relating to universities and university colleges, the ministerial Quality Assurance Regulations and NOKUT’s own Academic Supervision Regulations.

    The reviews are periodical in nature and each institution gets called upon every six to eight years. NOKUT appoints expert committees for these reviews who, in the first phase, examine targeted documentation from each institution, consisting of strategy, framework and implementation of internal quality assurance systems and systematic quality work. The second phase is a site visit where the committee interviews key stakeholders such as the leadership group, relevant faculty members, administrative staff and students. If the expert committee concludes that the institution falls short of the ESG criteria as operationalised in the laws and acts, i.e., non-compliant, NOKUT might limit the institutions’ accreditation rights.

    Queen Maud University College (QMUC) was established in 1947 and was accredited as a university college in 2008. The main aim of the college is to educate early childhood education teachers. QMUC offers a bachelor’s degree and four master’s degrees in early childhood education and care. QMUC has 1400 students and 160 employees in academic and administrative roles. NOKUT reviewed QMUC for the third time in 2024, following up on NOKUT’s review in 2022 where QMUC was found to be non-compliant on several of the ESG criteria, and was subsequently given one year to rectify these failings.

    In the 2024 review, the expert committee has concluded that QMUC’s quality assurance system is compliant with the national, legal framework. The committee is satisfied with the revised quality system which is now fit to support QMUC’s quality work and to manage and enhance its course portfolio. Furthermore, the committee highlights the recent internal reorganization, which, combined with the broad involvement of both staff and students in revising the quality assurance system, has improved and clarified the role descriptions and lines of responsibility. Additionally, the involvement and engagement of participants across all levels has demonstrably improved the quality culture, which in turn will have impact on further development of its course portfolio and quality work.

    The committee concludes the review with recommending QMUC to

    1) assess its quality indicators with the aim of simplifying and clarifying the indicators and the subsequent reports,

    2) review its meeting arenas to clarify which matter is addressed where, who participates in which arena, who has the responsibility to present matters and follow through on decisions, and how the process is documented

    3) incorporate all sources of information into the quality assurance system and the quality reports, and

    4) further strengthen student involvement and outreach. 

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