Jacques Moreau, Chair of the MusiQuE Board and Ana Alvarez, Review Officer at MusiQuE delivered a two-hour session to the Spanish higher arts education institutions which are members of the ACESEA network, including an overview of MusiQuE services and activities and a workshop about (internal) quality assurance systems in the higher arts education sector.
Jacques Moreau extensively delved into the internal stakeholders’ involvement and interactions within HAEIs and the processes and synergies existing among them within an internal quality assurance system. He also explained how the MusiQuE Standards are connected and derive from these processes, the communication among all parties and their shared values and missions. Parallels between the MusiQuE Standards and the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESGs) were also shown, featuring the positioning of MusiQuE within the European higher education sector.
Representatives from the different institutions taking part in the conference, coming from higher arts education institutions from all over Spain, discussed in groups and reflected on the tools and strategies they have developed and could further develop to build and improve the internal quality assurance systems at their institutions.
Conclusive points from the discussions:
- Despite the fact that there is no common framework to establish an internal quality assurance system in higher arts education institutions in Spain, these institutions have developed similar strategies to enhance quality and show a common understanding of educational quality.
- Institutions experience difficulties in relation to the available human and financial resources needed to establish consistent and sustainable quality assurance systems
- There is a common concern about the necessity to further involve teachers and students in conversations about quality.
Remarkably, a number of students attending the session also highlighted the shared perception that strengthening communication on quality across the different groups of internal stakeholders would be beneficial to better close the feedback loop.
All in all, the conclusions from the session outlined how quality enhancement is a continuous and endless process that can also give continuity to the implementation of strategies and plans in line with the institutional mission.
