Abstract of the Joint Audit Report on Quality review in higher education in the Netherlands and in Belgium

Report ID: 277

The important implications of the Bologna Process, which aims to create a European Higher Education Area, have been highlighted by the Court of Auditors and the European Court of Auditors.

Court of Auditors to undertake a joint review of the operation of the system of quality assurance in higher education. The quality of higher education is important for the development of the knowledge economy and thus for the international economic position of the Netherlands and Flanders.

The aim of this research was to contribute to the good functioning of quality assurance in higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders

The audit questions addressed were:

- Is there a system of internal quality assurance that is aimed at measuring, improving and thus maintaining the quality of the higher level education as found in the accreditation process?

- How does external quality assurance work and does it lead to well-founded quality assurance accreditations?

- Do the institutions involved in the accreditation have an insight into the costs of quality assurance?

- Does the Minister supervise internal and external quality assurance?

35 study programmes were selected for this study: 18 in the Netherlands and 17 in Flanders, each divided between three universities and three colleges.

Source: https://www.ccrek.be/EN/Publications/Fiche.html?id=72338820-a787-4361-8eeb-e87adf02c5e8

Auditoría coordinada sobre indicadores de educación - Resumen Ejecutivo

Report ID: 248

El resumen presenta los resultados de las auditorías de desempeño sobre la generación de estadísticas educativas, realizadas por 11 Entidades Fiscalizadoras Superiores (EFS) latinoamericanas: Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Panamá y República Dominicana. Esta auditoría contó con el apoyo de la cooperación técnica alemana a través de la GIZ.

La auditoría trata de la producción de estadísticas educativas y tiene en cuenta la necesidad de controlar y seguir los objetivos y metas establecidos a nivel nacional, así como los compromisos internacionales asumidos por los países miembros de las Naciones Unidas.

En cuanto a las buenas prácticas, se concluyó que de las doce unidades administrativas auditadas, dos mostraban una adhesión baja a las prácticas recomendadas por la Oficina Estadística de la Unión Europea (EUROSTAT), cuatro mostraban una adhesión media y seis, una adhesión alta.

La fiscalización tenía por objeto evaluar tres cuestiones:

1) La adopción de buenas prácticas internacionales por parte de las unidades administrativas encargadas de generar estadísticas sobre educación;

2) La capacidad de producción de estadísticas para el seguimiento del sistema educativo en cada país, la entrega de datos e indicadores a los organismos internacionales, la oportunidad de estas actividades, así como la forma de difusión y divulgación de estos datos e indicadores;

3) El progreso de los países en relación con la meta 2 de los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio (ODM) y en relación con los objetivos del Marco de Dakar del Programa de Educación para Todos (EPT) de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO).

Fuente: https://www.olacefs.com/resumen-ejecutivo-auditoria-coordinada-sobre-indicadores-de-educacion/

Joint Study Main characteristics, findings, messages of the coordinated audit of the Graduates’ Career Tracking Systems

Report ID: 278

In 2015, as one of the subprojects of the Network on Europe 2020 Strategy Audit, the State Audit Office of Hungary (as coordinator), the Bulgarian National Audit Office and the Romanian Court of Accounts decided to carry out a coordinated audit to allow for better use of shared knowledge for competitiveness – revealing the good practices of graduate career tracking systems. 

The objective of the audit was to reveal good practices of career tracking systems, with special regard to tracking the careers of graduates employed in another Member State.

The cooperative audit was a performance audit focusing on effectiveness. The Romanian Court of Accounts also focused on efficiency in its country-specific audit. The State Audit Office of Hungary, besides carrying out the audit, performed an analysis as well.

The final product of the cooperative audit was a joint study with four conclusions and messages supported by the experiences and audit findings of all three SAIs; as well as three good practices that the participating SAIs collected over the course of the audits and which they would like to draw to the attention of other countries.

In addition, all three SAIs have summarized the main characteristics and findings of their national audits with special regard to those which may provide useful lessons for other Member States in developing graduate career tracking systems.

Source: https://www.aszhirportal.hu/en/international-relations/international-experience-about-graduates-career-tracking

Cooperation between the Republic of Slovenia and the Russian Federation in the field of culture, science and education

Report ID: 287

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of their Governments in meeting the objectives set in the Agreements in the Field of Culture, Science and Education, in the period from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2019, the Court of Audit of Slovenia and the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, conducted a parallel audit.

The audit objective was to express an opinion on the effectiveness of the auditees, namely the Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, in meeting the objectives set in the Agreement on cooperation and the Agreement on centres (audit field). In order to be able to express the opinion, the key audit question was posed, whether the objectives set in the Agreement on cooperation and the Agreement on centres were met. The answer to the key audit question was given by answering the following sub-questions: ·

• Was planning and monitoring of cooperation in the field of culture, science and education appropriate?
• Were objectives set in Agreements and defined in programmes pertaining to the field of culture met?
• Were objectives set in Agreements and defined in programmes pertaining to the field of science and education met.

Source: http://www.rs-rs.si/en/audits-auditing/audit-archive/audit/cooperation-between-the-republic-of-slovenia-and-the-russian-federation-in-the-field-of-culture-sci/

Parallel audit on Contribution of the Structural Funds to the Europe 2020 Strategy in the areas of Employment and/or Education

Report ID: 288

In 2015, the Contact Committee of the heads of the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of the Member States of the European Union and the European Court of Auditors mandated the Working Group on Structural Funds to continue its review of issues relating to Structural Funds, more specifically, to carry out a parallel audit on the ‘Contribution of Structural Funds to the Europe 2020 Strategy in the areas of education and employment’.

A parallel audit was carried out by the SAIs of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and the Slovak Republic. The European Court of Auditors and the SAI of Bulgaria acted as observers. The Core Group was chaired by the German SAI, with Malta and the Netherlands as members.  

The parallel audit was carried out in order to examine whether the Structural Funds’ Operational Programmes (OPs) provide the necessary framework to meet the goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy and whether funding contributes to these goals. It focused on the audited OPs identified by the participating SAIs, as well as a selection of approved projects that were directly related to education and employment. The comparison of the national results was intended to establish similarities or differences across the Member States, as well as to identify good practice examples.

In conclusion, the participating SAIs concur that OPs provide the necessary basis to support the achievement of Europe 2020 Headline Targets in the areas of employment and education. However, at this point it is too early to confirm that the implementation of OPs in projects effectively contributes to these goals as expected. 

Source: https://www.bundesrechnungshof.de/en/veroeffentlichungen/products/sonderberichte/pdf-ab-2015/2017-special-report-parallel-audit-on-contribution-of-the-structural-funds-to-the-europe-2020-strategy-in-the-areas-of-employment-and-or-education-pdf