Together we are stronger. Erasmus University Rotterdam operates as 'one connected university': we value the strength of differences between faculties while consciously focusing on collective action on shared themes. The connecting leadership of deans and vice-deans of education ensures alignment between strategic direction and implementation and delivery. Together with the Executive Board, they set the strategic course while encouraging ownership at the decentralized level.
Collaboration plays a key role in this. In various communities, staff work cross-faculty on educational innovation. The Community for Learning & Innovation (CLI) supports this process and helps share knowledge and experience.
External partners are essential for our impact-driven education. We collaborate with other universities, societal organizations and business - from guest lectures to strategic alliances. This way we connect our education with real-world challenges.
Roles and responsibilities
Clearly defined roles, shared responsibility. Everyone involved in our educational programmes has a role in quality assurance - from the Executive Board to individual lecturers.
Self-direction, collective support
The transition toward strengthened ownership at the programme level doesn't mean programmes stand alone. Staff at the institutional and faculty level support with expertise, tools and instruments and collegial advice - when needed.
Our improvement cycle
Our quality assurance operates through various, interconnected continuous improvement cycles - from daily practice to strategic recalibration.
At the programme level the annual cycle encompasses drawing up plans (including in the TER, the Teaching and Examination Regulations), implementing, evaluating with all stakeholders, and improving. External accreditation occurs every six years, and halfway through each accreditation period, an interim programme evaluation (TOE) under our own direction.
At faculty and institutional level, we align through planning & control cycles, bilateral meetings, and strategic dialogues. This way, we ensure that developments at programme level contribute to broader goals, while signals from practice feed our policy.
Internal and external evaluations mutually strengthen each other. Our internal evaluations are designed to simultaneously provide support for external accountability toward accreditation panels. Conversely, we let peer feedback flow back into our internal improvements.
From reactive to proactive. By working on quality systematically, we avoid workload peaks around accreditations and can adapt quickly to new developments.
Quality dialogues
Dialogue drives quality. At EUR, we recognize the power of dialogue. Quality emerges through open, constructive dialogues between all stakeholders.
Vertical dialogue ensures strategic direction and alignment. Think of bilateral meetings between the Executive Board and Faculty Boards, or between programme management and lecturers.
Horizontal dialogue has two forms: collegial dialogue between people in similar roles (such as vice-deans among themselves), and functional dialogue between different roles (such as between board and participatory bodies). Both are essential for supported decision-making.
Learning dialogues take place in communities, networks and during education days. Here, professional development, sharing good practices and collective reflection on challenges are central.
Structure serves dialogue. We consciously organize various types of dialogues - formal and informal, large and small, internal and external. Always with the same objective: ensuring that different perspectives are heard, leading to better decisions and more shared understanding.