Evaluation regulations

Introduction

The various legal regulations contain more or less clear requests to universities to evaluate studies and teaching in order to check that the educational mandate is being fulfilled. These formulations, which are subject to political demands, represent requirements whose realization ties up valuable resources. In the interests of the educational mission, a solution should therefore be sought that conserves resources as much as possible. However, a simple ad hoc solution is hardly compatible with the demands of a university. The development of procedures for the evaluation of studies and teaching is more comparable to the development of psychodiagnostic tests. Only they can meet the various expectations associated with evaluation in the long term.

Legal framework

Section 5 of the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act (NHG) stipulates in its first paragraph that the evaluation of studies requires the involvement of an independent organization. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Central Evaluation and Accreditation Agency (ZEvA) founded by the universities of Lower Saxony has developed standards for this. In the current version of the NHG, the evaluation of courses before the end of each semester has also been regulated in a new, second paragraph of § 5.

In Germany, study programs in medicine are completed with a state examination. For this reason, the essential elements of the study programs are regulated nationwide in the licensing regulations for physicians (ÄAppO). With the introduction of the 9th amendment to the ÄAppO, the faculties were given the opportunity to create a profile by individually designing the curricula and establishing model courses of study. At the same time, the evaluation of teaching was prescribed. The general federal legal regulation falls with two sentences: "Courses are to be regularly evaluated for their success. The results are to be made public." (§2 para. 9 ÄAppO) is very brief. In addition, § 41 Para. 2 No. 4 ÄAppO stipulates that "an appropriate accompanying and final evaluation of the model degree program is guaranteed".

Regulations of the MHH

The combination of these legal bases results in the need to develop a mixture of different procedures and implement fixed processes for the evaluation of the medicine study program in Lower Saxony. The updated regulations for the evaluation of studies and teaching (pdf) adopted in December 2022 were therefore based on the standards for evaluation of the German Society for Evaluation. With the introduction of the model degree program in medicine (HannibaL), these general evaluation regulations were supplemented by program-specific evaluation regulations in order to take into account the special features and legal requirements of a model degree program and the greater acceptance of the evaluation of studies and teaching at the MHH (pdf) Both together largely comply with the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance.