On 14.11.2024, the seventh edition of the format “Accreditation Council in Dialogue” took place, which focused on the “Topic of the Day: Alternative Procedures”.
As part of the realignment of the accreditation system in 2018, the possibility of carrying out accreditation procedures as Alternative Procedures was created in addition to the Types of Procedures Program and System Accreditation.
These third Types of Procedures offer higher education institutions the potential to develop innovative and flexible approaches to accreditation. Alternative Procedures can thus become a source of inspiration for alternative approaches to external quality assurance beyond the usual accreditation procedures.
The first higher education institutions are already successfully implementing Alternative Procedures and have been able to gain practical experience with these Types of Procedures.
The “Accreditation Council in Dialogue” has built on this and provided information about Alternative Procedures and their accreditation, as well as offering higher education institutions that carry out such procedures the opportunity to share previous experiences and initial findings.
After a welcome and introduction to the topic by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans-Joachim Bargstädt, Chairperson of the Accreditation Council, Ulf Schöne, Head of the Alternative Procedures Department at the Head Office of the Accreditation Council, Prof. Dr. Folker Roland, Rector of the Harz University of Applied Sciences and Prof. Dr. Mathias Hinkelmann, Vice-Rector for Teaching and Quality Management at the Stuttgart Media University, gave short presentations.
In the subsequent panel discussion, Christoph Back, student member of the Quality Advisory Board of Furtwangen University in the Alternative Procedures, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans-Joachim Bargstädt, Chairperson of the Accreditation Council, Dr. Imke Buß, Consultant at the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg and Deputy Member of the Group of the Federal States in the Accreditation Council, Dr. Sibylle Jakubowicz, Foundation Director and Head of the Consulting, Evaluation and Organizational Development Department of the Evaluation Agency Baden-Württemberg (evalag), Dr. Frank-Peter Ritter, auditor and member of the peer review panel in the accreditation procedures of the Alternative Procedures of Stuttgart Media University, Nürtingen Geislingen University and Furtwangen University and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Vossebein, Chairperson of the Quality Advisory Board of Furtwangen University in the Alternative Procedures with around 200 participants. The event was concluded by the closing words of the Chairperson of the Accreditation Council, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans-Joachim Bargstädt.
The event was moderated by Dr. Olaf Bartz, Head Office Manager of the Accreditation Council.
The presentations by Ulf Schöne can be found here, those by Prof. Dr. Folker Roland here and those by Prof. Dr. Mathias Hinkelmann here.