In autumn 2019, the Faculty of Fine Arts underwent an international quality enhancement review conducted by EQ-Arts, an independent European agency for quality assurance in higher arts education. The review team consisted of Annie Doona (Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dún Laoghaire, Ireland), Manuel José Damásio (Universidade Lusófona, Portugal), Hanke Leeuw (HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, the Netherlands), Rainer Usselmann (creative entrepreneur and educator, United Kingdom) and student panel member Elena Chemerska (AKV St. Joost, the Netherlands).

During its three-day site visit from 21 to 23 October 2019, the team held twelve meetings with the Dean and Faculty leadership, programme heads, heads of departments, Senate members, teachers, Bachelor’s and Master’s students, researchers, alumni, technical and support staff, quality assurance staff, and representatives of employers and the professions. The team also visited the Faculty’s studios, workshops and ICT facilities.

In February 2020, EQ-Arts delivered its final 49-page evaluation report. The overview below (five commendations, five recommendations and five supported development strategies) is only a brief summary of the team’s observations. The full report is available to members of the FFA academic community on request from the Dean’s Office.

The evaluation team commends (5 examples of good practice)

the Faculty’s commitment to equipping its facilities with state-of-the-art equipment and the latest technologies, available to all students and staff in the workshops, studios and labs; this is complemented by an online booking system which, according to students, works well; the level of staff and student mobility and the opportunities for international exchange and exhibiting abroad through the Erasmus programme, participation in other projects and the development of partnerships; the introduction of an internal grant scheme aimed at students and academic staff, particularly at Master’s and doctoral level, which the evaluation team considers a potentially key initiative in strengthening the Faculty’s research profile; the Faculty’s ability to engage the local and regional community through interventions in the public sphere, thereby involving students in local cultural life; the evaluation team appreciates that, thanks to a network of personal contacts between its academic staff and external stakeholders, especially in the field of fine arts, the Faculty is well embedded in cultural and social projects at both local and national level; the students’ general satisfaction with the study programmes and teaching: there is a friendly working atmosphere between staff and students, staff are dedicated to their disciplines, and students particularly value the close working relationships with individual staff members, which strengthen their loyalty to their programmes and their motivation to work and study.

The evaluation team recommends that the Faculty (5 areas for improvement)

assess the effectiveness of its internal communication systems to ensure that key strategic objectives are clearly understood, recognised and shared at all operational levels; define job descriptions for individual staff positions more clearly; and put in place communication mechanisms that allow faster and more effective information sharing; introduce a formal staff appraisal system, including provision for continuing professional development; the evaluation team also recommends considering compulsory pedagogical training for all academic staff; implement programme descriptors consistently across all levels of study, align them with European standards and qualifications frameworks, and support development and engagement within the European Higher Education Area; develop a quality assurance plan and system that suits the Faculty’s culture and balances informal and formal procedures, drawing on quantitative and qualitative data and defined criteria, and use these more effectively to provide better and more efficient feedback on the quality of processes and their outcomes; further strengthen its focus on research by implementing Faculty-wide programmes designed to raise awareness of research methods at all levels, with the ultimate aim of increasing research activity and the Faculty’s visibility in this area; the evaluation team recommends using the opportunities offered by OP VVV projects to build these skills, particularly among staff.

The evaluation team acknowledges and supports (5 development strategies already being pursued by the Faculty)

the leadership’s intention to implement equal opportunities across the Faculty, both in the representation of women and men in management and administration and in improving access to buildings and study programmes for people with disabilities; the growing number of elective courses available at the Faculty and across the University; the Faculty’s efforts to define clearer internationalisation strategies, including the development of courses taught in English, which also help strengthen research activities with an international dimension, and its plans for further engagement in international research projects; examples of good practice worth building on, notably the long-term focus on progressive technologies and the growing activity in game media, which connect the Faculty to professional practice and may also bring commercial opportunities; the Faculty’s ambition to develop an effective system for monitoring the quality and outcomes of its graduates.