Course of Study Evaluation

© Stefan Hense

Course of study evaluations are in place at RWTH as an internal quality assurance procedure. The aim is to analyze the current state and further development of a course of study. The evaluations are carried out every eight years, over a period of three semesters.

The evaluations implicate both students and academic staff, which lets them be involved in the analysis of the actual state, the development, and implementation of teaching goals and implemented measures. In addition, the faculties involved arrange an evaluation project group (EPG), which is formed of students and academic staff. They compare the objectives of the course of study as specified in self-selected quality objective areas and compare them with the current state of the course.

The discussions in the project group are eventually presented in an evaluation report. This states the selected objectives and identified weaknesses of the course of study. As a result of these findings, specific measures will be established and implemented in order to improve the course. The measures catalog only outlines the objectives that have not been fulfilled, for which corresponding solutions have been elaborated.

An audit will subsequently take place, involving both internal and external reviewers. The aim of the audit is to finalize the measures catalogue – agreeing on suitable measures for reducing or eliminating the identified weaknesses in order to reach the established quality objectives.

Finally, different committees at RWTH will look into whether the course of study can be accredited – the rector’s office takes the final decision on this. In the annual talks between the university management and the student councils or faculty management, the success of the measures will be tracked internally within the faculty as well as reviewed to determine whether the objectives have been achieved. This continuous reviewing process completes the quality feedback loop at RWTH.