Development of degree programs and quality management

Our objective is to promote a comprehensive quality culture in which all participants regularly seek and exchange information on the status of the degree programs with regard to external standards as well as to the goals and profiles of these programs.

Quality assurance and quality development in studies and teaching at the University of Hamburg take into account both the University’s own fundamental principles as well as national and international criteria and standards.

The University's standards are laid out in the Qualitätsbewertungssatzung der Universität Hamburg.

To safeguard and enhance quality in studies and teaching, quality assurance procedures conducted at the University of Hamburg must be academically sound, that is, oriented to the needs and goals of those working in academia.

All stakeholders at the University of Hamburg, i.e., involved and affected participants, are included in the further development process for degree programs. This means that teaching staff, students, staff of the various offices for academic affairs, graduates, external experts, and practitioners take part in the quality assurance and development of degree programs. 

Measures derived from the results of quality assurance procedures are always implemented as part of a quality loop that includes defining targets, reviewing quality criteria, developing corresponding measures, and monitoring their impact. 

The responsibilities of the various levels and the distribution of tasks in quality assurance and quality development are transparent and binding. 

Quality assurance at the University of Hamburg has a steering function in that the decision-making process is supported by assessment, analysis, and documentation of strengths and weaknesses, thus enabling “informed self-guidance.”

The results of the quality assurance procedures are published to ensure public accountability.

Quality assurance procedures at the University of Hamburg are subject to the University’s own standards and principles as well as to national and international standards. These standards are described in the relevant university policy resolutions and recommendations from the Ministry of Science, Research and Equalities:

• Verordnung zur Regelung des Näheren der Studienakkreditierung in der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg (Studienakkreditierungsverordnung – StudakkVO) (regulation on the accreditation of degree programs in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, PDF)
• the Hamburg Senate’s Gesetz zum Studienakkreditierungsstaatsvertrag vom 28. November 2017 (Hamburg act governing the state treaty on the accreditation of degree programs as at 28 November 2017, PDF) 

• the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (PDF) of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA)
• the Standards für Evaluation der DeGEval – Gesellschaft für Evaluation (Nützlichkeit, Durchführbarkeit, Fairness und Genauigkeit) (evaluation standards of the German Evaluation Society on usefulness, feasibility, fairness and accuracy)

The Association of North German Universities (VNU) has been developing joint quality assurance processes for studies and teaching since 1994. Its member universities aim to assure and continuously improve the quality of university study. They uphold the international standards governing quality assurance in teaching and studies as well as the customs and requirements of the individual subjects.

www.uni-nordverbund.de