The higher education evaluation system in Germany : a case study

Abstract EN

On the basis of the German Higher Education System analysis, the present case study explores that the accreditation system in Germany is characterized with the centralized framework regulation and decentralized accreditation.

The German Accreditation Council along with the governments (KMK) takes care of Bachelor and Master's programmes.

Besides, the council performs the following tasks : (i) the study programme accreditation criteria; (ii) accreditation of accreditation agencies; (ii) contracts with agencies; and (iv) the accreditation agencies.

The accreditation procedures system is conducted through the peer review, then, the German Accreditation Council's seal is awarded which is followed by the Accreditation Decision done by the Accreditation Commission of the respective Agency.

Accordingly, the German higher education evaluation system follows the international accepted procedures and criteria which are based on : (i) collecting the quantitative data and qualitative information of each higher education institution performed in teaching, research, as well as in organization and management; (ii) matching the official statistics with the data of each higher education institution; (iii) assessing the performance of each institution and ; (iv) holding an internal consultation with final recommendations for more structural development of any subjects in the context of each accredited university (Hartwig,L.

2003).

Nevertheless, James et al (1999) state that" university scores serve as a proxy for the quality in the prospective students' eyes".

Therefore, the researcher recommends that the following Krapp's (2005) suggestions on the German higher education evaluation system development which will mostly play a vital role in (i) "overcoming the unsystematic and fragmented practice of evaluation; (ii) establishing and recognizing evaluation standards; (iii) closing the gap between social science research and application oriented evaluation research; (iv) developing theories and methods of evaluation research; (v) documenting and diffusing evaluation knowledge; (vi) training; and (vii) adapting interculture".