Under the Higher Education Act, public higher education institutions are, within the scope of their self-governance, obliged to carry out internal evaluation of the quality of education, research and related activities that they organise. The details of this internal evaluation are stipulated in the Rules for Quality Assurance and Internal Evaluation. This system contains the following main elements:
The internal evaluation system sets minimum quality requirements for the quality of education, as defined in, in particular, the Higher Education Act, the University's Accreditation Code, the Admissions Procedure Code and the Code of Procedure for the Granting of Associate Professorship and Full Professorship.
These include, for example, processes and rules for the submission and consideration of draft applications for accreditation, filling of vacancies for academics and researchers, rules for career procedures (processes for the granting of associate and full professorship), the regular employee appraisal system, evaluation of educational activities by students and graduates, evaluation of the conditions, course and results of admission procedures and studies, evaluation of degree programmes and so on.
The University is responsible chiefly for the development of research areas and fields where, in addition to the evaluation of creative activities, it also oversees the system for the financing of research at the University. Research funding programmes operated by the University include Cooperatio, UNCE, PRIMUS, and the Charles University Grants Agency, all of which are overseen by the Commission for Research Funding.
Creative activities are generally evaluated in five-year cycles, in which outputs for the relevant period are assessed by the Creative Activities Evaluation Board. The evaluation process utilises the IS Věda system, bibliometric analyses, peer review of outputs, self-evaluation reports prepared by faculties, or visits by the evaluators to the workplace. A second cycle of international, independent and comprehensive evaluation of creative activities at Charles University will take place from 2024-2025 and will focus on the period from 2019 to 2023.
Support activities, which include administration and management of the University, use of resources, infrastructure, information systems, information and counselling services, knowledge and technology transfer services, library services, publishing and editing, dormitories and canteens and sports facilities, form an integral part of quality assurance at the University.
These activities are evaluated at the University on a continual basis using a variety of subsidiary tools (e.g. feedback from students in the evaluation of information and counselling services or from users of accommodation and catering services). Selected other units of the University also submit to the rector a report about their activities, containing a brief evaluation of their recent activities and vision for their future development, description of the proportion of teaching and research activities, plan for the most important activities in the coming year, their current staffing situation and a conceptual change proposal.
An important output from the internal evaluation system is Charles University's internal evaluation report on the quality of teaching and research activities and related activities, as well as annual updates in the form of a supplement. The internal evaluation report is prepared on the basis of an evaluation performed at the University over the preceding five years or in the period since the preparation of the previous report. This report contains, in particular, a description of the evaluation process, its main results, preventive or remedial measures taken, an assessment of strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and risks, and any recommendations for the future development of the University and the quality assurance and internal quality evaluation systems.
Page Admin: Jakub Homolka
Charles University
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Prague 1, 116 36
Czech Republic
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