Education quality management system: experts from St Petersburg University at the Labour Forum

Today, the education quality management system is being developed in many universities and includes several vital elements. Among them are the following: a structural unit that is responsible for constant monitoring and committees on education quality issues, including representatives of student communities and partner organisations. The interaction of all interested parties influences the level of quality of education in universities. 

During the past five to six years, St Petersburg University has been developing the system of education quality management, said Mariya Solovyeva, Acting Vice-Rector for Teaching Methods, Head of the Educational Programmes Department at St Petersburg University. Today, the University offers 506 degree programmes and 800 non-degree programmes. Monitoring the quality of education in academic programmes is set to identify successful aspects and aspects that require improvement to timely update the content of the programmes.

The University has developed rules and regulations on the education quality management system. Recommendations were provided as part of the international public, institutional and professional-public accreditations in the field of those aspects that are not covered by state accreditation.

Mariya Solovyeva, Acting Vice-Rector for Teaching Methods, Head of the Educational Programmes Department at St Petersburg University

"Our desire to meet a large number of requirements on formal and substantive aspects has enabled us to develop the current education quality management system at the University. The University is also engaged in a number of state monitoring procedures. In the autumn in 2023, St Petersburg University took part in the accreditation monitoring of the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science, which was carried out in universities for the first time in a new format," said Mariya Solovyeva.

The education quality management system includes a procedure for assessing the quality of education across academic programmes. The University implements this procedure from the point of view of various interested parties. Among them are the following: applicants, parents of applicants, students, academic staff, administrative employees, graduates, and employers. An integral part of the education management system is surveys of participants in the teaching and learning process. External stakeholders, i.e. the University’s partners and employers, are actively involved in the educational process. In this regard, St Petersburg University forms councils of academic programmes, which suggest proposals to develop the content of academic programmes and offer platforms for practical training of students. Since 2016, the University has developed information systems to register partners, which reflect all spheres of cooperation: from graduation projects suggested by employers to compiling a register of employers, members of the councils of academic programmes, members of state assessment committees, representatives of companies, including those providing opportunities for internships and practices. The University has also ensured cooperation with employers to develop and discuss new academic programmes, which involves students and partners who interact with the University on a regular basis. 

Assessment of the quality of education at St Petersburg University is coordinated by the Vice-Rector for Teaching Methods, the Educational Programmes Department, and a special unit, i.e. the Centre for Monitoring the Quality of Education at St Petersburg University.

The Centre for Monitoring the Quality of Education is a unit at the University, which was opened in 2020. The centre is part of the system of ensuring and managing the quality of education at St Petersburg University. The mission of the centre is to conduct annual monitoring studies in the form of quantitative surveys among students, graduates, applicants, academic staff, administrative staff, and employers. The results of these studies can help make managerial decisions. The results can also be reviewed by heads of subdivision units and educational and methodological associations. Regular data collection is set to: obtain information about the quality of education, and the factors that influence the quality of education; and conduct a systematic analysis of changes.

Vladlena Avdeeva, a sociologist at the Centre for Monitoring the Quality of Education at St Petersburg University, spoke about the work of the centre and discussed the possibilities of using the results and approaches to attracting participants. One of the key issues when conducting studies is attracting a large number of participants to surveys. Statistical tools help assess the ways to generalise the findings. In social sciences, determining the ways to generalise the findings is an arduous task. As a rule, if the study is relatively small, it may significantly reduce the generalisability of the results, since the data and responses of participants may differ significantly from the potential responses of those who did not take part in the study. However, following the results of studies devoted to the topic of education quality, we cannot make an unambiguous assessment of the impact that students’ refusal to participate in the studies can have on the results of the studies. Differences in the characteristics of study participants and those who declined may have little, if any, influence on the monitoring and evaluation results.

The maximum number of participants does not always guarantee high quality of the final data, said the experts. What is important is that every student and partner of the University has an opportunity to express their opinion. 

"At St Petersburg University, surveys are voluntary. We carry out large-scale and systematic work to inform all students and employees about the opportunity and importance of participating in our studies and the ways how the survey results can be used. Our primary task is to ensure that every participant in the teaching and learning process has information about ongoing studies and, most importantly, the opportunity to express their opinion," said Vladlena Avdeeva.

The International Labour Forum is being held in St Petersburg for the eighth time. The main theme of this year’s forum is "Labour, employment, human resources: new challenges and solutions". The forum is organised by the Government of St Petersburg, St Petersburg University, the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member Nations, and the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre with the support of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation.

The experts from St Petersburg University discussed the issues relating to education quality management at the round table ‘Quality management system of educational programmes: best practices of universities’ at the 8th St Petersburg International Labour Forum. The event brought together Erika Soboleva, Director of the Russian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education and Career Development (AKKORK); Vasilii Fiveiskii, Rector of Moscow Metropolitan Governance Yury Luzhkov University; Olga Alkanova, Director of the Centre for Teaching Excellence in Business Education at the Graduate School of Management at St Petersburg University; Larisa Titarenko, Professor of the Belarusian State University; and Kristina Tishkina, Director of the Centre for Educational Management and Quality Assurance at ITMO University. The moderator of the round table was Olga Nikiforova, Associate Professor in the Department of Organisational Behaviour and Personnel Management at the Graduate School of Management at St Petersburg University. The round table on the issues relating to the education quality management system was a continuation of the discussion held at the 7th St Petersburg International Labour Forum.