Quality Assurance with CDIO Self-Evaluation - First Results of a Nordic Project

This paper describes the Nordic project "Quality Assurance in Higher Education‟. The main goal of the project is to develop and implement a self-evaluation model in the participating Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to support their quality assurance work and continuous curriculum development in the field of engineering. Furthermore, the project aims at developing cross-evaluation methods for international use as well as strengthening the cooperation of HEIs in quality assurance and disseminating good practices of QA. The framework of development in this project is based on the CDIO initiative and the CDIO self- evaluation model. The project started in October 2009 and will continue until the end of October 2011. The project is divided into two phases. The first phase focused on self- evaluation and the second will focus on cross-evaluation. This paper describes the first project phase. The main results are a detailed definition of the self-evaluation process, well- documented self-evaluations of the participating degree programmes, as well as identification of main development areas and actions in each participating degree programme. The development actions included, for example, a) implementing a capstone project into the curriculum, b) practical training – improving the connection between the industry and a HEI, c) integration of teaching activities – CDIO awareness, and d) programme organization – programme management team including student representatives. Furthermore, the project has increased the partners' understanding of other partners and their challenges. Finally, the quality assurance has been enhanced in each participating programme. Hopefully, this project will provide new ideas and support for quality assurance work on other higher education institutes.