In 2018, the University of Twente developed a Quality Agreement Plan in response to the sector agreement Investing in Quality of Education. These Quality Agreements will be effective for a period of six years, from 2019 until 2024. This plan is the result of an intensive process that has been coordinated at faculty level by the Vice-Deans of Education. Since March 2018, all faculties have been formulating their own plans that describes the aspired and required development of education to which the income of the Student Loan System will contribute. Faculty-specific plans are based on Degree Programmes’ needs and ambitions. Students and educational staff contributed to the development of faculty-specific plans by sharing ideas and suggestions to enhance the quality of education. All of the faculty-specific plans combined form the Quality Agreement Plan of the UT. This plan was approved by the University Council in December 2018.
Regarding the bottom-up approach that the UT applied to develop quality agreements, Thom Palstra, Rector of the UT, says: “I am satisfied and proud about these quality agreements and the extent to which students in particular, but also our staff, have been actively involved in the development process. This demonstrates that quality of education is high on the agenda that is remains a key focus.”
The Quality Agreements of the UT will be assessed on December 18th 2019, as a trail of the Institutional Audit. Halfway the six years period, there will be a mid-term assessment. Based on the Annual Report of 2021 and a reflection of the participatory bodies, the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) will assess whether the UT realised sufficient progress and whether relevant stakeholders are sufficiently involved. The final assessment of the Quality Agreements will be organised parallel to the next Institutional Audit, approximately in 2025.