Five educational programmes have been accredited at St Petersburg University

The intensive two-day work of experts invited by the Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance and Career Development (AKKORK) began with an introduction to the general structure and basic principles of the work of the first university in Russia. Marina Lavrikova, SPbU Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Methodological Support, noted the importance of external evaluation for St Petersburg University.

On the one hand, accreditation for us is a desired event, because we are constantly improving our programmes, but, on the other hand, we need constructive recommendations and critical comments from experts to take them into account.

Marina Lavrikova, SPbU Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Methodological Support

Marina Yurevna also emphasised that, despite the fact that all the programmes under examination are different, from the point of view of administration they are all developed and implemented in a unified university educational environment.

During the meeting with representatives of the administration of St Petersburg University, the members of the commission were able to ask questions about different aspects of the University's educational process: from interaction with employers and arrangement of work with graduates to personnel policy and student participation in the life of the university. Erika Soboleva, the General Director of the Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance and Career Development (AKKORK), noted that during the audit experts try to consider as many aspects of the educational process as possible.

The Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance and Career Development (AKKORK) is an independent organisation, included on the register of Rosobrnadzor, and has been working in the field of quality assurance of professional education. AKKORK is a member of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), as well as of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE), the Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN), the Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (CEENQA).

“First of all, it is important for us to assess whether the programmes meet the needs of the modern job market. Also, each commission includes representatives of the international professional community, who in turn determine whether the quality of the training results correspond with the best international practices”, emphasised Erika Yurevna. Such experts, known in the international educational community and professional environment, as Dr Sarah Tanner (associate professor, the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland), Harald Hafner (Hotmama top manager (Hospitality & Tourism Marketing Management), President of the Travel Industry Club Austria), Karl Donert (Director of the European Centre of Excellence, President of the European Association of Geographers EUROGEO), Dr Eduard Petlenkov (Department  of Computer Systems, Head of the Centre for Intelligent Systems of Tallinn University of Technology, Member of the Council of Evaluation of Qualifications in Information and Telecommunications Technology under the Government of Estonia) were involved in the evaluation of the quality of the educational programmes being accredited.

The verification procedure for each programme is standardised and includes the following blocks: interviewing of research programme directors, meetings with teaching staff, students, graduates, and employers-partners. In addition, members of the commission attend lectures and practical classes, get acquainted with different facilities such as branch departments of the library, lecture halls, laboratories and computer classes.

One of the features of the work carried out by the expert group is that at first it interviews younger students, and then final-year students. According to the experts, this technique gives the possibility to see how students’ motivation and perspective on their education change during training. Thus, already during the final meeting, Natalia Belyakova, the regional marketing and PR director of the Italian development holding Domina Group, noted the students’ high level of loyalty to their alma mater, which, with immersion into the educational process, does not decrease, but, on the contrary, only increases.

During the meeting with the employers, the members of the commission were primarily interested in how quickly the graduates of the programmes adapt to the working environment of enterprises, as well as in their recommendations for supplementing the curricula. The representatives of the professional community were unanimous in the fact that little time is devoted to practical classes during the educational process. However, according to Anatoly Bogdanov, the President of St Petersburg Association of Geodesy and Cartography, it is the fundamental nature of education that is the main advantage of university students. “We have already seen with colleagues from other organisations that St Petersburg University trains universal specialists in the field of cartography, working with whom is easier than with graduates of other universities”, Anatoly Stanislavovich believes.

At the end of the visit, during the final meeting with the administration of St Petersburg University, the members of the accreditation commissions shared their first impressions and thanked the representatives of the University, who had showed the entire educational process in its true colours. This approach to verifying the quality of education, according to Erika Soboleva, the General Director of AKKORK, greatly simplifies the accreditation procedure and allows providing adequate recommendations for improving educational programmes.

AKKORK’s professional conclusions are used by employers' associations and professional communities when deciding on professional and public accreditation of educational programmes.

The experts made a lot of remarks and recommendations, while they generally noted the high level of educational programmes at SPbU. Among the advantages highlighted by the members of the commission is a high level of English language proficiency. Another important issue is the increase in hours for internship. During the accreditation procedure, the experts noted some conflicting views of students who had expressed their desire to include more specialised courses in the programmes, and employers who appreciate basic knowledge. “Achieving a balance between fundamental knowledge and applied skills is one of the most important and complex tasks that is solved when developing a curriculum for any programme at St Petersburg University. Finding this golden mean and respecting it is our most important task”, Marina Lavrikova, SPbU Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Methodological Support, said summing up the meeting.

The experts have expressed preliminary results of verifying five programmes at St Petersburg University so far. In the next few months, the members of the commission will be meticulously working with documents, which will result in a final report.

It is not for the first time when the Agency organises such a procedure of a professional and public and international accreditation at the University - in 2017 the programmes “Business Informatics”, “Information Business Analytics”, “Liberal Sciences and Arts”, as well as Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree programmes in “International Relations” were successfully accredited.