Page 71 - AUN-QA

 two experts on the subject area or discipline being assessed
 an expert from the labour market and/or from the professional association
 an expert from abroad (but because the visit will be done in the local language,
this member must be proficient in the language)
 an expert on education and learning processes.

In selecting the assessor, consideration should be given to the assessor’s
competence and personal attributes in addition to education and work experience.
Knowledge and skills specific to quality management system are those related to:

 quality and quality assurance in general
 AUN-QA guidelines and criteria
 other QA education models and frameworks

As far as assessment team leaders are concerned, they should have the knowledge
and leadership skills necessary to enable the team to conduct the assessment
efficiently and effectively. In addition to the above, the assessor should posses a
number of personal attributes that contribute to the successful performance of
assessment. An assessor should be ethical, open minded, diplomatic, observant,
perceptive, versatile, tenacious, decisive and self reliant. The necessary knowledge
and skills and the personal attributes to apply them effectively can be acquired by an
appropriate combination of education, work experience, assessor training and
assessment experience. These “building blocks” are quantified by, for example,
specifying the minimum level of education, the necessary number of years’ work
experience and the minimum amount of audit or assessment experience.

The appointed assessors should have the required knowledge and skills on quality,
quality assurance, AUN-QA guidelines and criteria and assessment techniques and
skills. If not, training should be conducted for them.

The training should include:

 Quality and quality assurance in higher education
 The AUN-QA criteria and guidelines
 Organisation of self-assessment project
 Writing and reviewing of SAR
 Quality assessment process
 Stakeholders’ interviews
 Writing feedback reports

Staff organising the assessment should take care of the following logistics and other
administrative arrangements:

 Meeting and interviewing rooms:
 Opening/closing meeting which normally would require a bigger room in
consideration of the number of people involved.
 Interview room for the conduct of the assessment with the interviewees
 Assessors would need room for discussion and report writing.

53 | P a g e