Mock visitation Institutional Quality Assurance Assessment

On 20 and 21 June, the mock visitation for the Institutional Quality Assurance Assessment  ITK) will take place. The preparations for this visit are in full swing. A panel of internal members and external members of various other institutions will visit the UG. We are organizing this mock visitation in preparation of the actual Institutional Assessment that will take place in February and March 2025. We are preparing the mock visitation by reflecting on the vision and policy with respect to the quality of teaching. This reflection will be supported by existing documentation. The mock visitation panel will visit us for two days, and will speak with, among others, the Board of the University, the Supervisory Board, and with members of  Programme Committees, Boards of Examiners, Faculty Councils, the University Council, and policy officers of policy areas that support teaching, such as HR. During the mock visitation, we will explore whether our reflection offers enough input for the panel to conduct good interviews with staff and students.

What is the Institutional Quality Assurance Assessment (ITK)?

The Institutional Quality Assurance Assessment is an independent external assessment of the quality of teaching at a central level at a university or other institute of education. The ITK is carried out by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO). In the coming round, the emphasis will be on the quality of our teaching. The following question will take centre stage: How does the institution—and each organizational level in it— work cyclically, sustainably, and collaboratively on the assurance, improvement, and development of its teaching? 

An external, independent panel will study how the vision of good teaching is being realized, monitored, and improved by institutions.  The focus will be on the following subquestions/standards:

1. Is there sufficient support for the institution’s vision and policy regarding the quality of its teaching in a broader sense, and is there enough external and internal coordination on this matter?
2. How does the institution aim to realize this vision on quality?
3. How does the institution monitor the realization of its vision on quality?
4. How will the institution work on improvement?

The ITK takes place once every six years and the UG has acquired this accreditation twice before. In July 2019, the accreditation of the UG has been extended until August 2025. 

The Institutional Assessment in 2025

In February and March 2025, the panel will visit the UG to interview staff and students to address the questions above. Four programmes have been selected: the Bachelor’s degree programme in Medicine, the Bachelor’s degree programme in Human Geography and Planning, the Research Master in Behavioural and Social Sciences, and the Master’s degree programme in IT law. In any case, the panel will speak to staff and students of these four programmes, and with the Board of the University, the Supervisory Board, the Central Participation Council, and with policy officers.

What is the importance of the ITK?

Extending the ITK accreditation is desirable for a number of reasons:

• The ITK will give us tools to improve the quality culture and our quality assurance processes. Contrary to the programme accreditation, the main focus is not on the quality of teaching, but on the shared responsibility for the quality assurance in teaching.  Consider for example our decision-making structures: how are decisions about strategy reached within the UG and how do we make sure these decisions are implemented in the entire institution? The Institutional Assessment therefore pays explicit attention to the systems within the institution that are meant to ensure that the quality assurance and quality culture are in order.
• Carrying out and passing the ITK will ensure that several topics no longer need to be assessed during the programme visitation, as they have already been assessed during the ITK. This way, carrying out the ITK reduces the workload for programmes during their programme visitations. For a full description of the programme visitations, please visit our web pages (under ‘External Quality Assurance’).