Final -report June 25th, 2013 QEAP Heimerer in Pristina Application for re-accreditation of the programs Bachelor of basic nursing (Bsc) Bachelor of Arts (BA) Health Sciences for medical professions Site visit on the 30 th of April 2013 at the school site in QEAP Heimerer Higher Professional School (HPSCH) Page of 15 1
Introduction This report is the result of the collegial work of an international team of experts appointed by the Kosovo Accreditation Agency to evaluate the institutional management and study programs of HPSCH. Experts Team (ET): Prof. Dr. Danica Zeleznik University College of Health Sciences, Slovenj Gradec (SL) Prof. Dr. Bernhard Borgetto University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hildesheim, Germany (D) Coordinator s of KAA (CKAA): Dr. Basri Muja, Expert for Evaluation and Accreditation Acting Director/ KAA Prof. Dr. Ferdije Zhushi-Etemi, State Council of Quality/ KAA Furtuna Mehmeti, Expert for Evaluation and Accreditation/ KAA The Task: The purpose of the visit to Quep Heimerer Professional High School was to evaluate prerequisites for the re-accreditation of the programs Bachelor of basic nursing (Bsc) Bachelor of Arts (BA) Health Sciences for medical professions Page of 15 2
The Procedure: QAEP Heimerer is applying for re-accreditation of study programs listed above. The site visit was on the 30 th of April at the school main site and organized as follows: Meeting with management of QAEP Heimerer Meeting with management of QAEP Heimerer Visit of the facilities and infrastructure Meeting with responsible persons for the study program (curriculum, teaching, research) Meeting with students Meeting with academic staff Expert team (ET) consultation Closing meeting with management The report is based on: - Self evaluation report 2012 - Meeting with the Management of QAEP Heimerer College and extensive discussion between the members of QAEP Heimerer College, the expert team, and representatives of KAA - The Code of good practice and guidelines for site-visit, provided by the Kosovo Accreditation Agency - Site-visit of the facilities - Verification of the compliance with the recommendations provided by the KAA - Additional documents provided after the site-visit - Commentaries on the draft-report Page of 15 3
Additional documents were provided on the 08.05.13. These documents included: 1. Employment Plans for the whole institution as well as for the several study programs. The following criteria should be met: 1.1 Qualification / Subject / University / anticipated date of the graduation 1.2 Fulltime/Part-time (exact Percentage of) Employment 1.3 Publication List (with Impact Factors) 1.4 List of Funded Research (Project title, Funds, granting Institution, term of the project) 1.5 Especially for the Employment Plan for the whole institution: Percent Effort for each Study Program (Time Equivalents) 2. List of Databases available the library 3. Revised curriculum for Basic Nursing 4. List of mentors in clinical area for Basic Nursing 5. (in English) Time table for the first semester incl. teaching staff and CVs of the teaching staff (incl. 3 most relevant publications for the subject taught with titles in English and the titles of the Bachlor-/Master-/PhD-Theses) 6. Results of Module Exams of the first semester incl. average grades, the range of grades, the number of students passed/failed Page of 15 4
Evaluation of the study programs General Remark: In general, the expert team acknowledges the improvements of the studying conditions, i.e. information screens and possibilities for making copies of literature and scripts as well as the extension of the employed staff. Nevertheless, some problems remain crucial. I. Bachelor of basic nursing (Bsc) Planning of academic and professional advancement of the staff Many staff members are currently working on their PhD or on their Master, some of them abroad, in cooperation with IEJ-ASHIT and Partner University in Halle, Germany. The practical part, as the basic pillar of this educational program is monitored by the group of mentors prepared in Kosovo by the Finnish project. Practicum places and division of groups of students (8 persons per group) is done in accordance with institutional capabilities and specifications of services offered, as foreseen in the program. A detailed breakdown is attached to institutional arrangements. Students mobility is planned to be provided through the implementation of professional practices in EU countries, to be coordinated by Heimerer schools and their partners through these countries. They have intensive cooperation of the HPSCH with the professional schools in Germany such as Munster professional school, the network of professional schools Heimerer, the Nursing Faculty in Halle, Tirana, Vlora and Tetova etc. Curriculum The program Bachelor in General Nursing is divided into six semesters and duration of study is three academic years, equivalent with 180 ECTS. Each semester has 30 credits. Way of learning represents a combination of lectures, seminars, assignments, practice-clinical training, demonstration with patients, teamwork, project, pursuit, escort and supervision in health and social institutions. The number of hours in the curriculum is in accordance with EU directives. It is clear from the documents that the students will have the minimum of 2300 hours of patient contact, as requested for European standards. The Bachelor Programme of General Nursing is based on: Nursing services as laid down by EU sectoral Page of 15 5
directives, Strategy for the European Higher Education (Bologna Declaration), Higher Education Act Regulations in the Republic of Kosova, present and anticipated population s demands and needs for nursing care, taking into consideration the latest professional development, past employment and experiences of nurses and related nursing professionals and WHO directives on health protection and promotion (Health in the 21 st Century). The content of subjects Nursing care organization and management and subject Nursing care of a surgical and oncological patient with surgery contains Slovenian Literature. Experts believe that this is a mistake, because students don t understand Slovenian language. For example: Florjančič Repše S., ured, ; Gračner B, Pahor D.; Berčič J. Otorinolaringologija. Maribor: Visoka zdravstvena šola, 2002; Miksič K., Flis V et al. (ur.). Izbrana poglavja iz kirurgije: učbenik za kirurgijo na visokih zdravstvenih šolah. Maribor: Obzorja, 2003.; Bolnišnične okužbe; zborniki predavanj; Bedijančevi dnevi.; Gubina M., Dolinšek M., Škerl M. Bolnišnična higiena. Ljubljana; Demšar A. Ortopedija (skripta). Maribor: Visoka zdravstvena šola, 2002/03. Laboratory facilities During the site-visit the ET requested to see the laboratory facilities for students. The teaching room for nursing skills is fully equipped, many mannequins and models. Experts Recommendations: The clinical practise can t be optional but must be obligatory. Slovenian literature should be deleted and replaced with the literature in their native language. The realisation of the changes has to be checked in next visit. They need competent nursing local employees for a stable staffing structure. We strongly suggest a maximum enrolment of 40 students. Page of 15 6
II. Bachelor of Arts (BA) Health Sciences for medical professions General remarks: The self-evaluation report 2012/13 of QAEP Heimerer for the study program Bachelor of Arts (BA) Health Sciences for medical professions describes two study profiles for Basic Studies of Occupational Therapy, BSc. and Basic Studies of Speech and Language Therapy/Logopedy. Both profiles deliver a higher education according to international and in particular European standards. In the opinion of the expert team the program should be renamed into Therapy Sciences with two elective profiles Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy. The self-evaluation report 2012/13 of QAEP Heimerer shows, that the program meets the needs of the Republic of Kosovo and the whole region. Ideally, at least for the future, there should be two separate study programs for each therapeutic vocation. In the further development of the study programs, it should be considered to complement the programs with a bachelor program for physiotherapy. Page of 15 7
Evaluation criteria: Academic program and student management 1. Does the academic program correspond to the institution s mission statement and principles of operation? 2. Are the program s quality, range and academic aims appropriate according to the academic degree? 3. Is the programme based on an overarching didactic concept that has been adequately communicated to and adopted by the teaching staff? 4. Does the program correspond to international standards? 5. Does the structure of the programme give sufficient opportunity for independent study, reflection and analysis? 6. Is the allocation of ECTS credit points appropriate and justified? 7. Is the workload required for the academic program manageable for students? 8. Are the teaching methods and content of teaching units sufficient for the successful achievement of the program s goals and outcomes? 9. How do the admission criteria and admission procedures measure up to international standards? 10. Is the ratio of academic/artistic staff to students appropriate? Staff 11. Does the institution have an adequate proportion of permanent (50% full time equivalent) and external staff? 12. Does the academic staff demonstrate proven ability at a high academic and didactic level and are their qualifications appropriate to the positions they hold within the institution according to the basic criteria? Page of 15 8
Research and international co-operation 13. Is the teaching staff involved in research activities inside or outside the institution, and do these research activities feed back into teaching/course contents? 14. Is the extent and the quality of international cooperation in research and teaching adequate? 15. Are students involved in research and cooperation projects? Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment 16. Does the institution have an adequate budget plan? 17. Does the institution have adequate buildings and specialized infrastructure for the requirements of the programme? Quality Management 18. Are the institution s programmes assessed regularly within the context of internal evaluation processes? Page of 15 9
Academic program and student management Ad 1. Mission statement and principles of operation The mission of QAEP Heimerer College is to implement educational programs with qualified teachers and modern methodology, which enables the achievement of the European standards for the education of the health professionals (infirmaries), resulting in measurable quality of skills and professional knowledge. Concerning the health profiles occupational therapy and speech and speech and language therapy, the program and module description are very well structured and elaborated and meet european standards. Problematical is the qualification of the staff, which is difficult to assess, but seems not to meet European standards. However, it has to be acknowledged, that the allocation of academic staff in the therapy occupations in Kosovo is difficult and fluent and that it is not easy to find optimal solutions for the two therapy profiles. The QAEP Heimerer College seems to be on a potential way to develop a professional staff, at the time it cannot be decided, how far they reach. The self-evaluation report 2012/13 of QAEP Heimerer lists more goals and objectives, which are formulated in a rather general way and many of which are not checkable or unrealistic like PrBHE qeap-heimerer aims to establish a high level of cooperation with all professional schools in Europe and world, which have a well established tradition in professional education. Nevertheless, in the self-evaluation report 2012/13 it is clearly described why the program is needed for the national and regional health care and how the program would contribute to higher education in Kosovo. Ad 2. Appropriateness of the program s quality, range and academic aims The content of the curriculum is complete and appropriate to the academic degree. The literature mentioned in the module descriptions is adequate, but still some sources have to be added or updated. The relation of contact hours and self-study hours as well as of theoretical and practical teaching is balanced and reasonable. responsible member of regular staff should be appointed. For each module a Page of 15 10
The quality of the literature available at QAEP Heimerer as print and/or electronic versions for the study programs is suboptimal. Especially lacking are journals for occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. At least one internationally accepted journal for each profile must be available. Ad 3. Overarching didactic concept The word didactic is only mentioned three times in the self-evaluation report 2012/13 of QAEP Heimerer. The first time didactic is mentioned, QAEP Heimerer claims that the accomplishment of goals of the study programs is done through preparation of these programs relying completely on the modern pedagogic and didactic concepts, ( ). The concepts itself is not mentioned or described elsewhere in the document. The other two references to didactic are made in a module description of basic nursing. In the site-visit, the expert group did not hear anything about didactic concepts. Ad 4. Correspondence to international standards As mentioned above, the program corresponds to international and in particular european standards. It is, for example, comparable to comparative programs in Germany and Switzerland. Ad 5. Independent study, reflection and analysis The relation of contact hours and independent (self-)study hours in theoretical modules is 1:2. Thus, the structure of the program gives sufficient opportunity for independent study, reflection and analysis. Ad 6. Allocation of ECTS credit points The allocation of ECTS credit points in the program is appropriate and comprehensible. Especially the relation of theoretical and practical teaching is balanced and reasonable. Ad 7. Manageability of the workload The overall workload required for the academic program is manageable, also the allocation to the semester (with a maximum of 32 ECTS CP per semester) and no more than six exams per semester. Page of 15 11
Ad 8. Sufficiency of the teaching methods and content of teaching units The teaching methods and contents of teaching units are sufficient for the successful achievement of the program goals, particularly the theoretical and practical parts are well balanced. Ad 9. Admission prerequisites and procedures Reasonable admission prerequisites and procedures for the program seem to be in place. Students have to pass an admission test. Yet, the admission prerequisites and procedures remained somewhat unclear. Ad 10. Ratio of academic staff to students The ratio of academic staff to students is difficult to appraise, since there are no reliable data about the staff (see below). The number of students enrolled for this program was planned with 120. Currently, there are less than half studying at QAEP Heimerer, less than 30 in speech and language therapy and less than 20 in occupational therapy. These rather small numbers of students should be manageable. When the number of students rises in the next years, the development of the staff has to be monitored carefully. Altogether the academic program can be seen as adequate, the student management is somewhat problematic and requires careful monitoring. Staff Ad 11. Proportion of permanent (50% full time equivalent) and external staff The staff lists of QEAP Heimerer and KAA differ and are confusing for an expert from abroad, since the writing of names in some cases seem to be alike, but nevertheless they may be the names of different persons. Additionally, the employment plan of the whole institution of QEAP includes more persons as the list of FT/PT staff and experts of QEAP. Thus it is not possible to assess the proportion of permanent and external staff. Page of 15 12
Ad 12. Ability and qualifications of the academic staff Just as well, it is difficult to appraise the adequacy of the teaching staff. For example, the head of the speech and language therapy profile, Prof. Behlul Brestovci, is listed by QUEAP Heimerer once as full-time staff of QUEAP, in another list of QUEAP as irregular part-time staff and in the list of KAA as full-time staff. Nevertheless, the qualification of Prof. Brestovci seems to be appropriate. The head of the occupational program, Dajana Ulrih, is listed in the employment plan of QUEAP Heimerer, but neither in the list of full-time and part-time employment of QUEAP, nor in the list of Academic staff of the KAA. It has to be acknowledged, that the allocation of academic staff in the therapy occupations in Kosovo is difficult and fluent and that it is not easy to find optimal solutions for the two therapy profiles. Especially because of that, the staff situation of QUEAP has to be carefully monitored and more transparency is urgently needed. Altogether, the situation of the staff is difficult to evaluate. More detailed and reliable information is urgently needed, a continuous monitoring of the staff development is necessary. Research and international co-operation Ad 13. Research activities and teaching The list of publications and projects needs to be more structured. The translation of publication-titles in English is helpful, but it is still difficult to evaluate the study programrelated research activities of the teaching staff, because it is not clear, which publications present results of research projects. In general, the topics of the publications are associated with topics of the study programs. To which extent research activities/results feed back onto teaching remains unclear. However, it has to be taken into account, that the program is in the first year and that it is rather difficult to build up a program for therapy studies and at the same time to integrate own research activities in teaching. Ad 14. Quality and extent of the international co-operations International co-operations for the program in research and teaching are announced, but not clear presented in detail. Taking the early stage (the first year has just now started) of Page of 15 13
the program, the international co-operations seem to be adequate. Nevertheless, in regard of the staff development (e.g. train-the-trainer activities), international co-operations are essential and should be increased. Ad 15. Involvement of students in research and co-operation projects Since the program is in the first year, students are not involved in research and co-operation activities. Nevertheless, there is no plan or announcement of suitable activities in this direction. Research should be developed on low scale in facilities, where the students are trained with patients. Since the program is in the first year, research and international co-operations are suboptimal. There is a urgent need, to further develop international co-operations in order to raise the quality of the staff. Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment Ad 16. Budget plan A differentiated and transparent budget for the program has been not been provided. The financial situation of the program cannot be assessed. Ad 17. Infrastructure The infrastructure (building, teaching rooms, exercise labs, library) is satisfying, but nevertheless, there is a considerable potential for improvements. This is especially true for the library. The infrastructure if the exercise labs cannot be assessed, since a disposition of the items available has not been provided by the institution, yet. Even after the site visit, the finances and infrastructure remain somewhat obscure. On the surface the situation seems to be satisfying, a deeper insight has not been possible. Page of 15 14
Quality Management Ad 14. Regularly program assessment An assessment plan for the program with instruments has been developed and is adequate. In the first year of the program, the regularity of the program assessment cannot be appraised. Expert Recommendation: The program is good in respect of content and modules. Literature has to be updated in some modules. Responsible staff members have to be appointed. Difficult is the staff situation. There is a need for experienced lecturers from abroad with clinical experience and at least a masters degree. In the opinion of the expert team it is a condition, that at least one occupational and one speech and language therapist belongs maybe in part-time clearly to the permanent staff of the school. In addition, the plan for Train the trainer-programs and the development of the staff in general should be described concretely and be implemented soon and should be substantiated with names and institutions before the program comes to the second year. Dubious is, that for QUEAP Heimerer it is still not possible to apply an adequate terminology (logopedy instead of speech and language therapy and ergotherapy instead of occupational therapy), and that there is still a confusion by naming the profile sometimes program. The fulfillment of the condition/recommendations should be checked in the next year. The expert team suggests reaccreditation for one year only. Recommendations for both programs: Urgently needed is an air condition in the computer laboratory and library. In the future reports/applications should be in one design, especially the module descriptions and the curricula. Page of 15 15