Quality assurance of higher education: A case study

Abstract

The current, global reform of higher education is aimed at the development of competences (i.e. at acquiring knowledge, skills and values that are appropriate predominantly to general but also to field-specific standards), which will increase the chances of graduates of different levels of studies to find a job. The operationalization of this requirement implies that faculties should, first of all, take into account actual demands of society. In other words, creating (and/or innovating) the curriculum is supposed to start with defining the learning outcomes and competencies, and after that continues with designing subject content. Having this in mind, this paper intends to analyze whether education of economists responds to recommendations proclaimed by the reform processes of a global character. That is why we will examine the compliance of the outcomes of accredited study programs at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade with the possibilities of continuing education, and particularly with employability. Our study relies on the results of previously conducted surveys in which graduates, master students and doctoral students, as well as employers, evaluated the quality of study programs and their components. The basic documents that will be used in the analysis are all available self-evaluation reports (from 2008 to 2017). The results show that curricula of study programs are much more in line with the possibilities of continuing education than in relation to employability. The respondents unambiguously point to the necessity of changing the study programs (their innovations and/or re-designs) that would enable graduates from different levels of study to obtain socially acceptable and useful, most commonly general competences, thus increasing their competitiveness in the labour market.

Keywords

• higher education
• quality assurance
• economics
• learning outcomes
• competences