The Quality Agreements are assessed by NVAO. They pertain to the study advance funds allocated to institutions for the improvement of the quality of education.
In April 2018, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science signed an agreement with the higher education sector on the substantiation of the Higher Education Quality Agreements (2019 – 2024). NVAO was requested to assess the agreements.
In the purview of assessing the Quality Agreements, NVAO has developed the “Protocol for the assessment of Quality Agreements 2019-2024”, which addresses three stages:
The sector agreements contain detailed descriptions of the six domains on which the quality funds may be spent. The domains are outlined below.
More intensive and small-scale education |
More and better tutoring |
Educational achievement |
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Themes for the improvement of educational quality |
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Differentiation of education |
Appropriate and good educational facilities |
Further staff development |
In 2019, a panel appointed by NVAO will visit the institutions to assess their plans. In their study advance investment plans, the institutions must specify:
The intentions and goals may apply to the institution as a whole, to specific sections of the institution, or to specific groups of students. The plans must substantiate how their realisation fosters the quality improvement of the education provided.
By no later than 1 April 2020, NVAO will submit its recommendations regarding the plans drawn up by the institutions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, who is responsible for the allocation of study advance funds.
Assessment of the realisation of the plans is scheduled for the autumn of 2022. NVAO will conduct such assessment on the basis of the annual reports on 2021. The institutions must append a reflection by the participation council to their annual reports. This reflection must address the realisation of the plans, the involvement of stakeholders, and the facilitation that they have received.
The third phase is the evaluation of the realisation of the plans. A panel appointed by NVAO will visit the institutions and review existing documents (annual reports, reflection by the participation council). The evaluation will take place six years after the assessment of the plans (2025). The evaluation of the plans may be incorporated into an institutional audit. In such cases, the assessment can take place between 2023 and 2026, depending on the timeframe set down for the institutional audits.
After all three assessment stages and following a decision by the Minister, NVAO will publish the panel recommendations and advisory reports on its website. In 2020 and 2022, NVAO will also draw up a national report on the state of affairs.
NVAO does not charge a fee for the assessment of the Quality Agreements.
The application dossier must clearly explain how an institution plans to spend its quality funding. The explanation must be geared to the six domains outlined in the sector agreements. Institutions are not required to invest in all the domains, but they must state their reasons for choosing or leaving out specific domains. In the purview of a separate assessment of the plan, the panel will need to familiarise itself with an institution’s existing philosophy and ambitions. In addition, the panel will need to gain insight into the organisational structure (including relevant decentralisation within the institution) and the associated management culture, the manner in which quality assurance has been embedded, the position of the participation council, and the relations with this council. Insight into the processes in place within the institution is important to enable the panel to assess the plan in terms of the criteria outlined in this protocol. This also provides a picture of the manner in which the selected measures are being implemented and adjusted. The plans of institutions that are undergoing an institutional audit may be assessed as a separate “trail”, in addition to the other trails covered in institutional audits (see NVAO Assessment Framework for Institutional Audits).
In the event of a separate assessment, NVAO must receive the plans for the Quality Agreements by no later than 8 weeks before the date of the panel visit. If the Quality Agreements will be assessed during an institutional audit, the institution must submit the Quality Agreements application dossier concurrently with the institutional audit dossier, viz., 6 weeks before the exploratory visit. All the institutions have been notified of the deadline for submission.
The panel assessment is based on the “follow the money” principle. This means that if the funds are spent in a decentralised manner, the panel will want to interview parties bearing decentralised responsibility (board, participation council).
When conducting a separate assessment, the panel will allow one full day for its visit to the institution. The panel will schedule internal consultations on this day, as well as interviews with the board of the institution, the participation council, and the supervisory board. Brief feedback will be provided at the end of the day. NVAO will forward a visit schedule to the institution.
Assessments within the context of an institutional audit will preferably be conducted at the end of the in-depth visit. To this end, the panel will schedule half a day of interviews (the board of the institution, the participation council, and the supervisory board).
The panel is not going to check any financial data. However, perusal of financial documents may be useful for the panel in order to assess the feasibility of the plans.
The process allows room for modification of the plans. An institution will need to properly substantiate and coordinate such modifications with its internal stakeholders (and external stakeholders, if any). In its annual reports, such modifications must be clearly set out in order to warrant their traceability.
The panel conducting the institutional audit will also be trained to assess the Quality Agreements. Furthermore, the panel will already have gained insight into the (educational) philosophy of the institution through the institutional audit.
Panel members are carefully selected and must sign independence and confidentiality statements. A panel commands expertise in the fields of administration, participation, and external assessment (institutional audits). The panel forms an opinion regarding the three standards, based on the application dossier and the interviews. The NVAO process coordinator steers the assessment process in the right direction. Regular coordination consultations between the panel chairs and between NVAO process coordinators ensure the consistency of the assessments.
For each institution, NVAO convenes a separate panel to assess the Quality Agreements (planning stage). There is a measure of overlap between the panels in order to foster consistency.
If one or more criteria are scored negatively, NVAO will submit a negative final recommendation to the Minister. In such cases, the Minister will invite the institution for an interview. If the Minister adopts the recommendation and takes a negative decision, the institution will have a term of one year to submit a new plan. NVAO will give another recommendation regarding this new plan. If this recommendation prompts the Minister to take a positive decision regarding the new plan, the institution will be granted quality funding for the years 2021 up to and including 2024. Upon a negative decision regarding the plan submitted following the second chance, quality funding will be denied.
In the Netherlands and Flanders, the board of an institution may appeal a (draft) NVAO decision.