National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance (ANQA) in cooperation with the Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU) initiated internal capacity-building measures towards the enhancement of academic programmes.
The pilot review was carried out in the following stages:
- trainings on the interpretation of programme accreditation criteria and the conduct of SWOT analysis for quality assurance managers of institutions’ faculties and chairs;
- discussion of the SWOT analyses as a result of the training with the participants;
- selection of internal experts from the group of trainees;
- preparation of internal experts for the conduct of a pilot review of the academic programme;
- desk review of the academic programme "Fine Art" through SWOT analysis and observation of the academic programme;
- internal experts’ site visit, coordinated by ANQA;
- discussion about the results of the process with the HEI’s management staff;
- internal experts’ provision of recommendations aimed at the enhancement of the academic programme.
During the pilot review of the academic programme "Fine Art" internal experts emphasized the following directions:
1. visual communication component of the academic programme "Fine Art" i.e. whether the student is able to teach learners of different ages to visualize and make their thoughts understandable through visual communication tools;
2. students’ conduct of interdisciplinary assignments;
3. contacts and cooperation with alumni for the betterment of academic programmes;
4. role of the quality assurance system in finding joint solutions.
During the pilot review, ANQA also attached importance to the launch of processes aimed at the enhancement of the academic programmes by the HEI, the effective implementation of which intends to emphasise change management through finding like-minded people while maintaining the best practice.