In 2014 already was Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) granted the right to accredit its study programs as one of the first universities in Germany. Last year, a group of international experts again evaluated the internal quality management scheme of KIT in studies and teaching with an excellent result. On this basis, the German Accreditation Council has now granted the right to KIT to continue assuring quality of its study programs on its own in the next eight years.
To prove quality of studies, study programs have to be accredited at regular intervals. As a rule, this is done by program accreditation that is supported by an external accreditation agency in each individual case. Only accredited universities that have their own internal quality management scheme for studies and teaching are allowed to accredit their study programs on their own. The internal quality management scheme ensures high quality in terms of contents and compliance of the study programs with national and European regulations.
“Repeated granting of the accreditation right reflects that our programs and our internal quality management scheme at KIT meet the high standards,” says Professor Holger Hanselka, President of KIT. “It also guarantees that KIT’s study programs are research-oriented according to KIT’s mission and pursue clearly defined qualification goals.”
“We are very happy about the rating of the experts, because internal accreditation gives us room and flexibility to constantly further develop academic education at KIT in order to prepare students optimally for the rapidly changing labor market,” says Professor Alexander Wanner, KIT Vice-President for Higher Education and Academic Affairs.
Positive Rating for KIT’s Quality Management Scheme
After KIT had been granted the system accreditation right in 2014 already, its quality management scheme was evaluated again by external experts last year. The group of experts usually consists of at least three university teachers from other universities, who are experienced in quality assurance of academic education, as well as of a representative of professional practice. Following the positive recommendation by the experts, the Accreditation Council has now granted the system accreditation right again. For another eight years, KIT is permitted to thoroughly check its study programs on its own and to grant them the internationally recognized quality label.
Internal Quality Assurance Scheme for Evaluation
KIT’s internal quality assurance scheme is essentially based on the KIT-PLUS procedure that is designed in analogy to external program accreditation and consists of several steps. “With KIT-PLUS, the KIT departments can systematically analyze and further develop the quality of their programs with participation of internal and external stakeholders, such as students,” says Nadja Legrum-Khaled, Head of the Quality Management Group. Analysis is based on various quality instruments established at KIT, such as surveys relating to the student lifecycle and structural data.
More on KIT-PLUS: https://www.sek.kit.edu/kit-plus-interne-akkreditierung.php (in German)
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.