Qrossroads

Glossary

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Peer

In the context of quality assurance in higher education, a peer is a person who understands the context (e.g. scientific discipline) in which a quality review is being undertaken and is able to contribute to the process.

Peer review

An assessment of an institution or a programme conducted by a group of experts who share common academic and/or professional knowledge with the people responsible for the object of the assessment, i.e. the institution or the programme being assessed.

  • Glossary, National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation, Japan, 2009

Ph.D

A Ph.D is a degree which refers to the qualification awarded after successfull completion of the so-called third cycle in the Qualifications Framework of the European Higher Education Area. The degree requires approximately three or four years of research.

Polytechnic

A higher education institution focusing on more vocationally-oriented (professional) higher education.

Prior learning

Prior learning is previous learning from informal and formal learning situations.

Professional body

A professional body is a group of people in a learned occupation who are entrusted with maintaining control or oversight of the legitimate practice of the occupation.

Professional recognition

Professional recognition is the formal acknowledgement of an individual's professional status and right to practice the profession in accordance with professional standards and subject to professional or regulatory controls.

Profile

Profile refers to either the specific (subject) field(s) of learning of a qualification or the broader aggregation of clusters of qualifications or programmes from different fields that share a common emphasis or purpose (e.g. an applied vocational as opposed to more theoretical academic studies).

  • Bologna Follow-Up Group, Framework for Qualifications of the European Higher Education Area, 2005, p. 30

Programme

A programme refers to a higher education curriculum leading to a degree. It has co-ordinated elements (courses). 
The completion of a programme provides the student with a higher education qualification.

  • Council of Europe, Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region, 1997, p. 4

Programme accreditation

A formal and independent decision indicating that a higher education programme meets certain predefined standards.

Pp