This article develops around a qualitative research case study of an instructor teaching an introductory course about students with special needs. Data collection involved document analysis, observations and interviews with administrators, the faculty member, his peers, teaching assistants and students. The case is also a reflective piece on the…

How are stakeholders represented in higher education institutions' decision-making bodies that influence the quality of education, and are their viewpoints taken into account? This paper addresses this question taking into account the empirical evidence from eight countries in Europe. Findings indicate that formal barriers are largely absent,…

The article introduces external quality assessment results of first cycle and second cycle study programmes renewed under the Human Resources Development Action Programme 2007-2013 priority direction 2 "Lifelong Learning" (hereinafter the "Programme") through the aspect of planning students' independent work. Problems…

Evaluation of university teachers' performativity has become a common feature of university policies. The Swedish Higher Education Ordinance states that equal attention should be paid to pedagogical skills and research skills when appointing academic staff. Hence, the definition and documentation of pedagogical skills have become increasingly…

The research presented in this article aims to validate quality assessment parameters for student support at higher education institutions. Student support is discussed as the system of services provided by a higher education institution which helps to develop student-centred curriculum and fulfils students' emotional, academic, social needs, and…

Higher education provides graduates with both monetary and non-monetary benefits. Globalization and technological developments foster utilitarian approach, therefore the transmission of competences that are relevant in labour market is an important target for higher education institutions. The paper presents findings of research on the match of…

Universities in Europe have been playing an increasingly important role in the institutional evaluation of political and social systems for the last thirty years. Their major contribution to those processes of accountability has been to add methods and safeguards of evaluative research. In this paper we report an illustration of how evaluative…

In this article, relevance of practice during university studies is highlighted, as well as the main stages of its organisation, qualitative parameters, as well as criteria and indicators that validate them are defined. Discussion on the idea that taking into consideration qualitative parameters of organising practice as a component of studies…

The main purpose of this research is to examine the effectiveness of Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) from a sample of university teachers' and students' view. The study adopts exploratory descriptive design. Participants of this research were 300 teachers and 600 graduate students from 3 Iranian higher education institutions. A 30-item format…

The cooperation of various stakeholders' groups is a prerequisite to develop and realise high-quality study programmes, i.e. during studies to develop skills that are relevant to the labour market and social life. In order to achieve effective stakeholders' cooperation, it is necessary to identify stakeholder's groups relevant to a study programme…

The teaching profession has been continually challenged to provide evidence of the effectiveness of teaching and learning methods. The teacher education systems are currently undergoing reforms in Sweden. Hence, it is importance for educational institutions to be aware of the different ways that their student teachers learn and it is importance…

In the article the concept of higher education quality is discussed, putting an emphasis on the concept of quality as a transformation. In this context the teachers are stimulated to use contemporary teaching/learning tools and to take active role in the development and empowerment of learners. The role of human resource management (HRM) is also…

The article presents the stages of the experiment planning that are necessary to ensure the validity and reliability of it. The research data reveal that doctoral students of Educational Research approach the planning of the experiment as the planning of the whole dissertation research; and the experiment as a research method is often confused…

The article discusses the concept of generic skills, underlines the importance of their development in studies of higher education, introduces methodology and results of the research on the match between generic skills of Lithuanian universities' and colleges' graduates (N=1021) and labour market needs, as well as reviews potentialities for the…

This article reviews a possibility to assess university studies as a service. University studies have to be of high quality both in their content and in the administrative level. Therefore, quality of studies as a service is an important constituent part of study quality assurance. When assessing quality of university studies as a service, it is…