The Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC) conducted an audit of Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (UAS) and awarded it a quality label, valid for six years, from 29 February 2016. The quality system of the university of applied sciences fulfils the criteria for the quality management of universities and universities of applied sciences, as well as European principles and recommendations.
The Finnish Education Evaluation Centre has conducted an audit of Satakunta University of Applied Sciences and has awarded a quality label that is valid for six years from 29 February 2016. The quality management system of the UAS fulfils the national criteria for the quality management of higher education institutions and corresponds to the European quality assurance principles and recommendations.
The audit group says that long-term development of the quality system provides a solid foundation for quality management and has given rise to all-encompassing policies and procedures for the UAS. Feedback on the degree programmes is utilised in a systematic way and based on agreed-upon procedures and instructions. Students have been very involved in the quality-related work, and they can already give feedback when they apply for studies, during their studies, at graduation and as alumni.
The audit focused on three degree programmes in detail; two of them were selected by the UAS and one by the audit group. The quality work on the nursing degree programme, in particular, is impressive and promotes educational development in an excellent way. Through annual internal audits, it is possible to share good practices and to make the staff more committed to quality.
“All in all, the quality approach of Satakunta University of Applied Sciences is profound. A long period of time has been allocated to creating it, and the organisation is extensively committed to it. It shows at all levels of daily operations – people are committed to it, it supports the operations and promotes staff equality”, says Pertti Puusaari, audit group chairman and rector of Häme University of Applied Sciences.
The group also issued developmental recommendations to Satakunta UAS. The quality system manifests itself as partially mechanistic and mainly as maintaining the existing procedures. Therefore, the audit group recommends strengthening the reform-orientated elements of the quality system. In this way, the UAS can develop its quality system to support its management in a more flexible, diverse way and encourage the staff to be curious and to exceed expectations. The group also recommends adding general discussions regarding to the goals and more systematically utilising forecasting data and stakeholder feedback in developing the operations.
Internationalisation was the audit theme that was selected by the UAS. The group recommends strengthening the management of internationalisation in regard to all supervisory posts, clarifying the goals and communicating them to all levels of the organisation.
Quality system audits of universities and universities of applied sciences began in Finland in 2005, and the audits cover all universities and universities of applied sciences. The audit report is available on the website of the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre at https://karvi.fi/
For more details, please contact:
Pertti Puusaari, audit group chairman, rector, tel. +358 400 469 605, email: pertti.puusaari(at)hamk.fi
Marja-Liisa Saarilammi, audit project manager, tel. +358 29 522 5528, email: marja-liisa.saarilammi(at)karvi.fi
Report:
Satakunnan ammattikorkeakoulun auditointi 2016 (Audit of the Satakunta University of Applied Sciences 2016)
Report orders:
Arja Bilund, administrative assistant, tel. +358 2953 35503, email: arja.bilund(at)karvi.fi
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