Sibelius Academy will be re-audited

The purpose of the audit of the Sibelius Academy quality assurance system was to:

 

·        find out what quality targets the Academy had set for itself,

·        assess what kind of processes and procedures the Academy uses to assure and enhance the quality of its education and other operations, and

·        evaluate whether quality assurance in the Academy works in the intended way, whether the quality assurance system produces appropriate information for the development of operations, and whether it leads to effective, quality-enhancing development measures.

 

The audit was based on material provided by Sibelius Academy in advance and on a audit visit to Helsinki on 19 - 21 April 2010.

 

The audit team notes that the operational manual "Orchestration of Sibelius Academy" is a successful quality assurance document which describes the present state of the quality assurance system informatively and comprehensively. The student admission process is a pivotal and advanced procedure in the quality assurance of degree education. The fitness for purpose of the procedure is reviewed and developed regularly. In postgraduate education, sufficient resources have been allocated to supervision and there are a sufficient number of supervisors, which allows continual assessment and feedback. The cooperation Sibelius Academy Continuing Education pursues with interest groups is en example of well working societal interaction. The key procedure for assuring quality in human resources development is effective staff development training. The quality targets for management are clearly determined and the Academy leadership are committed to them. The internal performance agreement process is the foremost link from the quality assurance system to the university leadership and operational management and there is evidence of this from a period of several years. For the main part, the material produced by the quality assurance system and the departmental quality work are easily available to all internal groups on the intranet Sonetti. Sibelius Academy is committed to monitoring, evaluating and constantly developing of the quality assurance system. The responsibilities in the development of the system have been defined.

 

The audit team has the following recommendations for further development:

 

·        The effectiveness of the quality assurance system is partly based on personal relations. The system may run smoothly and appropriately in day-to-day practice but it is vulnerable in situations of change. The audit team recommends that this aspect be taken into account in the development of the system.

·        The quality assurance system in degree education comprises procedures and cultures of different kinds and of different ages. With regard to the development of the quality assurance system, more effective dissemination of information about the procedures between departments would be advisable.

·        It is recommended that the system of feedback in personal instruction, which is characteristic of music education, be developed.

·        Relating to societal interaction and impact, the operating environment and the expectations of the world of work should be surveyed more widely, discourse with the key interest groups should be systematised, and measures should be created for monitoring the functioning and effectiveness of the cooperation.

·        Relating to staff development and the personnel's well-being and satisfaction at work, attention should especially be paid to the well-being and inclusion of hourly paid teachers.

·        The information needs of external interest groups should be reviewed with a view to improving communications about the operations of the university and their quality.

·        It is important that the whole university community is committed to quality assurance. It might be helpful to link quality assurance closely to the development of one's own work and to actively inform the university community about the results obtained by means of the quality assurance system.

 

In its meeting of 17 June 2010, FINHEEC decided, based on the audit report, that the QA system of Sibelius Academy does not meet the criteria set for QA systems. The development of the QA system calls for additional measures by the HEI as well as for a re-audit. The re-audit will focus on the following audit targets in accordance with the FINHEEC audit manual for 2008–2011:

·        Definition of the objectives, functions, actors and responsibilities of the HEI's QA system and relevant documentation including access to QA information in both Swedish and English.

·        The comprehensiveness and efficiency of the feed-back system as a part of the QA procedures and structures related to the degree education

·        The QA system as a whole, since there is no clear evidence of its functionality yet.

 

The re-audit of the Sibelius Academy QA system will take place within two years from the FINHEEC decision.

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