2. Legal framework: documents and accreditation
The goal of this chapter is to show how the TU Delft operates by describing the legal framework within which assessments take place, and the requirements of accreditation and audits. Although we refer to the English translation of Dutch laws, regulations, policies and other documents in English for accessibility, the original Dutch texts are binding. Interfaculty programmes, programmes that are joint degrees with other universities, and programmes that face specific national requirements can encounter conflicting policies. The same holds for service courses and free electives. In these cases, programmes (and courses) make an informed decision on what policy to follow.
Explanation of blocks: See running text. Single arrows between boxes indicate that the items in the lower box comply with the ones in the upper box. Double arrow between boxes indicate an interaction. Arrows within a box indicate that the next item complies with the previous item. Adapted from Buijns & Kok (2015).20
The visual above (Figure 8) demonstrates the relation between the following regulations, policy and the Assessment Framework:
- the external requirements for the TU Delft (box 1)
- the university wide policies and regulations (box 2)
- the TU Delft Assessment framework (bar 3)
- the faculties’ policies and regulations (box 4)
- the programmes’ policies, plans, and regulations (box 5)
- the assessment in the courses (box 6)
The double arrows indicate that an update in the framework may lead to an update of the central regulations, and changes in the regulations will lead to an update in the framework. The visual also shows how the TU Delft monitors the assessment quality and (the execution of) the policies and regulations using:
- university-wide monitoring (box 7)
- faculty monitoring (box 8)
- programme monitoring (box 9)
- course monitoring (box 10)
In Appendix B, the documents that form the legal framework for the assessment policy of the TU Delft are described in terms of type of document, owner, refresh rate and current version. The owner of the document keeps the document up-to-date and fixes inconsistencies. An overview of the tasks and stakeholders in regulations is listed in the RACI in Appendix D.2 (Legal framework & TU Delft wide assessment agreements).
| condition 6: | The TU Delft and the faculties ensure that the owners of the assessment documents mentioned in Appendix B keep these up-to-date and congruent (consistent with each other). |
All documents mentioned in the framework are published on an accessible place on internet (see Table 5), so that teaching staff, students, and other stakeholders can inform themselves of their rights and obligations. Significant changes in the documents are communicated clearly.
| condition 7: | The TU Delft and the faculties ensure that students, teaching staff and other stakeholders are informed on their rights and obligations and in changes thereof (see Table 5). |
| condition 8: | The TU Delft and the faculties ensure that the assessments comply with the legal framework as described in Appendix B of this framework. |
Disclaimer
The assessment framework summarizes existing regulations, and creates a framework for new regulations and practices. The regulations (see Figure 8) are legally binding, the assessment framework and other policy documents are not.
2.2 Accreditation and audits
The NVAO must accredit each (new) programme, before it is acknowledged by the government and before its diplomas will be (internationally) valid. An accreditation is valid for six years.
TU Delft also applies for an institutional accreditation during an institutional audit. By obtaining institutional accreditation, the accreditation process for individual programmes can follow the limited version of the accreditation, since the NVAO relies on institutional quality (assurance system). The institutional audit and the accreditation of individual programmes evaluate assessment and its quality control, which is explained below. Information on the internal quality assurance of the TU Delft can be found in the TU Delft plan for Educational Quality14.
-
Institutional audits focus on answering four questions10, page 8:
- “Are the institution’s vision and policy concerning the quality of the education it provides widely supported and sufficiently coordinated, both externally and internally?
- How does the institution realise this vision on quality?
- How does the institution monitor that its vision on quality is realised?
- How does the institution work on improvement?”
Since assessment is an important part of our education, an institutional audit will check the following 5 points, which relate to the four standards for institutional audits10:
- Whether the TU Delft has a central assessment policy (this document, standard 1)
- Whether the TU Delft assessment policy is widely supported (standard 1)
- Whether the TU Delft has an internal quality assurance system in place to check the assessment quality (standard 1)
- Whether the assessment policy is realised in an effective manner (standard 2)
- Whether the TU Delft systematically evaluates whether the intended policy objectives on assessment are achieved and if relevant stakeholders participate in this process (standard 3)
- Whether TU Delft has a focus on development and on improvement of its assessment (standard 4)
These six questions are addressed in this assessment framework.
condition 9: The TU Delft ensures that the assessment framework meets and operationalises the requirements of the institutional audit. -
In the accreditation of a programme, assessment is an important subject. Two of the four standards focus on assessment:
Standard 3: The programme has an adequate system of student assessment in place. The student assessments are valid, reliable and sufficiently independent. The requirements are transparent to the students. The quality of interim and final examinations is sufficiently safeguarded and meets the statutory quality standards. The tests support the students’ own learning processes.10
Standard 4: The programme demonstrates that the intended learning outcomes are achieved. The achievement of the intended learning outcomes is demonstrated by the results of tests, the final projects, and the performance of graduates in actual practice or in post-graduate programmes.10
condition 10: The faculties ensure in the faculty’s assessment policy that their programmes live up to standard 3 (assessment) and 4 (achievement of the programme's final attainment levels) of the assessment framework of the NVAO.