Quality assurance
The quality assurance of all academic programmes at the Brussels School of International Studies is managed through the University's Codes of Practice and Academic Regulations.
The School has established a Joint Board of Studies which acts as both a Learning and Teaching Sub-committee and a Graduate Studies Sub-committee of the respective LTCs and the GSCs of the ‘parent’ academic departments that hold responsibility for the programmes delivered by the School. The Joint Board of Studies includes two student representatives and considers such matters as the approval of new modules, the annual monitoring of existing modules and programmes of study, and student evaluation. Each programme is evaluated along with each of its modules and a composite report, including feedback elicited from students on both formal written (anonymous) course evaluation forms, as well as that provided by students at the End of Term Review Sessions or in the Joint Council (see below), is submitted to the relevant Head of Department, and thence to the Dean of Social Sciences.
The Joint Board also reports bi-annually to the UKB Stakeholders Board, which is chaired by the Pro Vice Chancellor (External) and attended by relevant Heads of Departments as well as senior members of the University’s administration. This ensures that the concerns and suggestions of the students at the Brussels School are taken very seriously at high levels within the University.
As indicated above, the School has also established a Joint Council, which functions as the School’s Staff-Student Liaison Committee. Its ambit covers all aspects of the School, not just the conduct of academic courses. It is attended by all academic and administrative staff as well as one student representative from each programme, who are elected by the student body at the start of the academic year. These meetings ensure that the School is always responsive to students’ concerns and helps deal with issues expeditiously. The minutes of the meetings are reported direct to the student body as well as to relevant academic Departments and the Brussels Joint Graduate Board of Studies.
The School has adopted use of these joint sub-committees as the most effective way to ensure the quality management of its cross-departmental portfolio of programmes and make certain that the needs of its diverse student body are met equally. The End of Term Review Sessions, which take place in the last week of each term, provide an open forum for all students to supply feedback about the term, including all of the courses, guest seminars, workshops, and other activities. Student representatives are elected to pass along student comments in an anonymous way if a student wishes to use that facility, but the spirit of these sessions is informal and is designed to create a constructive dialogue between students and staff. These informal feedback sessions are taken very seriously, both for the current year and in our thinking about the future evolution of the programmes, because we recognise that the long-term success of our programmes, and the maintenance of our international reputation, depends on satisfying and responding to student needs.
As detailed in the Code of Practice, each programme has an External Examiner, who is a distinguished academic from another University. The role of the external examiner is to guarantee the quality of the degree, its comparability with degrees awarded elsewhere by UK universities, and the fairness of the assessment procedures. Examination and dissertation assessment is always undertaken independently by two members of staff and is reviewed by the external examiner who has the right to see all work produced by candidates. The external examiner produces an annual report on the examination procedures for the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent. Furthermore, every three years an external reviewer formally reviews each programme.