Improving the ranking model of the Albanian higher education institutions

Public Accreditation Agency for Higher Education, PAAHE  

Niko HykaPAAHE, Head of Statistics and analyses sector

www.aaal.edu.alwww.albranking.com

 nikohyka@aaal.edu.al

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Presentation Outlines

Higher Education Institutions and Programmes in Albania

CHE – PAAHE, First Ranking process in 2011 Methodology and results Problems and recommendations Improvements of ranking model Infrastructure and new model for next

ranking processes

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Organizational Structure of Higher Education in Albania

Council of Ministers

Accreditation Council

Ministry of Education

Council for Higher Education

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)

Conference of Rectors

Academy of Sciences

Student Council

Public Accreditation Agency, PAAHE

Geographical distribution of public & private of higher education institutions in Albania

Public , 14 HEIs 6 universities in Tirana, 6 regional 1- university of Arts 1 -military academy 5 regional faculties (branch) Total 650 programmes

Private, 44 HEIs 34 HEIs in Tirana, 10 regional HEI-s 7 universities, 26 higher schools, 5

colleges, 6 academy Total 600 HE programmes 4

• Berat

Peshkopi

58 HEIs

●

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PAAHE DIRECTOR

Promotion and Quality Assessment Sector

6 Persons

Statistics and Analyses Sector

4 Persons

Publication and support services Sector

4 persons

Evaluation of New and existing HE Institutions and Programs

Evaluation: process, procedure, peer team, follow up, System-wide analysis; comparative, rankingReporting: periodical, analytical, comparativePublication of results of accreditation and ranking Collaboration with HEIs for Internal Quality Assurance

and Quality Audit/ Quality Assurance UnitSupporting Accreditation Council and experts;

secretariat, infrastructure, logistic, financial

PAAHE is responsible for:

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PAAHE and Ranking

CHE and PAAHE, developed the first ranking process in Albania. (October 2010 – June 2011)

Main purpose:

• Giving information to prospective students: informed choice

• Information to academics in higher education institutions:

• Comparison and positioning, strengths and weaknesses

• Information for deans / rectors.

• Benchmarking, strengths and weaknesses

• Information for policy makers

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CHE MODEL

labour market,

employability

city, university

studentsstudy

outcome

teaching resources

research

overall assessment(students,

professors)

internatio-nalisation

DATA SOURCES

Rank Groups top middle bottom

Multi-dimensional ranking

Field-based ranking

Selection of institutions

Only 33 institutions fullfiled these criteria and participatein this proces (7 public universities, 26 private HEIs)

Criteria for participation:

1. Institutions have to be licensed (Council of Minister decision)2. Study programmes of the first cycle have to be licensed3. Programmes have to be in operation; should have 3 year students4. Number of students per field > 155. Programmes have to be full time programmes6. Different branches/campuses treated as separate units

4 Study Fields, 22 programs:1. Law (3 programs)2. Healthcare (3 programs)3. Social sciences (6 programs)4. Economy- business (10 programs)

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Ranking 2011• Ranking was based on self declaration of data from HEIs• PAAHE’s staff collected data from HEIs (University data, faculty

data, programs data, student data, staff data, APAAL’s experts data).

• In this process, participate 33 HEIs (universities, Higher educations schools, branches etc) in 4 field:

• 1-Social sciences, 2-nursing, 3-economy and law. In this fields study more than 65 % of Albanian students

• Are interviewed more than 7500 students, 100 rector and deans, about 3000 academic staff and more than 50 APAAL’s external experts.

• PAAHE ‘s Statistics and Analyses Sector, was responsible for data collection and CHE for analyzing with our staff

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Results• Results of this

process are made public on final report (July 2011- (http://www.ireg-observatory.org/pdf/Ranking_Albania_Final_report_1307.pdf)

www.albranking.comwww.aaal.edu.al

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Problems and recommendations• Big differences between HEIs:

100 students in small HEIs – 30000 students UT Most of private HEIs are new ( 3- 5 year old) Not all HEIs have institutional accreditation, not all programs

are accredited Missing data for research & projects, graduate students,

employability for many HEIs • Low level of reliability of the data collected by questionnaires,

(student survey, research, facilities etc)• Insufficient knowledge from HEIs about the ranking• Low credibility of HEIs to organizers (PAAHE / SAS)• PAAHE / SAS had no proper infrastructure for the development of

future processes

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RecommendationsCHE recommendations:• Establishing a special ranking unit within APAAL separate from the

accreditation staff. This is important to avoid misunderstandings about the different roles and functions of ranking and accreditation.

• Re-design of student survey – Design of a new student survey– Elements: US Survey of Student Engagement, Ranking of

dimensions within faculties by students– New issues

• Feedback on indicators • Feedback on data collection instruments • Establishing of an advisory board which should be composed by

members representing different stakeholders

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SAS Recommendations…

After analysis of the first ranking process from July to October 2011, Statistics and Analyses Sector recommended to PAAHE- MoES:• Improvement of legal documentation in the context of ranking• Institutional accreditation for all HEIs, accredited programs• Information, consultation, discussions with all stakeholders and

HEIs• Collaboration with experts and stakeholders for development of

some questionnaires • Transparency and independence of the process at any stage• Appropriate infrastructure (software, server, website for ranking) • Sufficient financial support to SAS (financial support from the

PAAHE’s budget, registration fee in the process of ranking, fee per program, fee per student)

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Improvements of ranking model• SAS is based on CHE ranking Model. After 2 years of experience

and work, we have design a new ranking model fully adapted to the context of higher education in Albania. The model uses a large number of questions, grouped according to the indicators of each study field. For qualitative or quantitative data, weight factors are used for analysing and processing in statistical data software.

• we designed new questionnaires for: institutional organization, academic staff (part time and full time), students, research –projects-publications, graduate students,

• We are based on “Multi-dimensional ranking“ for different preferences, priorities and profiles

• The methodology of publication and giving results for prospective students is included with a web application module on website dedicated only for ranking (www.albranking.com)

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Improvements on infrastructure• Regulations and procedures for ranking processes• We developed a software ( APAAL Management Software)

dedicated for accreditation and ranking processes • This program will manage all data from HEIs, questionnaires etc

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Infrastructure • Web & mobile application

version of “APAAL Management software”

• Website dedicated for ranking process and publication of results www.albranking.com

• On Line portal for PAAHE staff, surveys, importing data etc

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Conclusions… After 2 year, staff of SAS and PAAHE, has the experience to

develop the new ranking process in Albania for other study fields and programs

This sector has the right infrastructure and support to continue in other ranking processes

Database of HEIs, research, academic staff, students, alumni etc, is verified and now completed. We have the possibility to check the data declared by HEIs through questionnaires

Institutions are now more sensitive to the importance that is ranking in informing of prospective students

PAAHE will require collaborations with other international organizations in the field of ranking, especially with CHE

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Acknowledgment …We thanks CHE (Center for Higher Education), Germany:• For trainings of our staff

• For supporting us in all steps of the ranking process

• For methodology and documents,

Thank youAPAAL

Public Accreditation Agency for Higher Education, PAAHE

ADRESS: Rr.Durresit",   Tirana, AlbaniaTel/Fax: 04 22 66 302. E-mail: nikohyka@aaal.edu.al Web: www.aaal.edu.al, www.albranking.com

Niko HykaAvni MeshiEdmond MinoDafina Xhako