Commitment to quality: Guidelines on teaching and system accreditation
Our commitment to quality
The QM system at FAU is based on the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG). Our quality culture focuses on a participatory exchange based on dialog and increasing the awareness of all members of the University of the aims of the QM system.
Our goal is to continuously improve the degree programs offered at FAU. The requirements of good teaching and optimum learning conditions are characterized by the different situations and cultures in each discipline. The diversity of disciplines at FAU is one of our characteristic strengths which ought to be developed and supported by the QM system in order to further strengthen the quality culture across FAU.
Our central ideas are participation, transparency and the principle of subsidiarity.
Guidelines on innovative teaching
The Guidelines on innovative teaching at FAU approved by the Commission for Teaching and Studying (Uni-LuSt) and adopted by the Executive Board in 2022 are the result of a process involving people from all across the University. The Guidelines on innovative teaching (as a further development of the FAU mission statement for teaching and studying) not only represent FAU’s vision for good teaching, but also inspiring examples of how to implement innovative teaching at FAU.
Find out more about our co-creative process for developing guidelines on innovative teaching at FAU here.
Principles of system accreditation
- System accreditation is based on a university’s internal quality assurance system. If a university has received system accreditation, it means that its quality management system is suitable for ensuring that qualification goals are met and its degree programs are of high quality. System accreditation entitles universities to accredit their own degree programs with the seal of the Accreditation Council.
- During the system accreditation process, a university must prove that it systematically implements the formal and subject-related criteria laid down in the Accreditation Council’s specimen decree. To do so, the quality management system must schedule regular evaluations of the degree programs and all areas relevant to teaching and studying.
- The system accreditation process focuses on the assessment of the QM system and its development. This process is an opportunity to define quality management instruments, structures and processes on the basis of FAU’s targets and to ensure that these instruments and structures are also effective on the degree program level.
System accreditation at FAU
FAU received system accreditation in May 2016, which means it is authorized to award the seal of the Accreditation Council to its modular degree programs.
We have been continuously developing the QM system at FAU with all status groups since 2016 and began the system accreditation process in 2021, which we successfully completed in December 2023. This means FAU has system accreditation until 2030.
The official resolution of the Accreditation Council for FAU’s system accreditation is available here.