College of Ptuj

The evaluation of the Ptuj College to prolong the accreditation of the higher education institution was carried out by a group of experts in accordance with the recommendations, criteria and criteria set by the National Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. We assessed the Ptuj College in four areas: Operation of the higher education institution, Human resources, Students and Material conditions. The second part of the evaluation will focus on the Bionics study program, when we will also assess the area of Internal quality assurance and enhancement, change, update and delivery of study programmes. The four areas assessed include 17 standards. In 12 quality standards, Ptuj College meets quality standards without non-compliance, in four quality standards we found noncompliance with quality standards, and in one we partially met quality standards. Non-compliance with quality standards was first identified in the field of strategic planning of the institute and the implementation of its mission, where we found extremely low knowledge of the institute's development strategy by key stakeholders, especially the Board, and the lack of monitoring the strategic goals. Another non-compliance is in the field of operation of the higher education institution, mainly related to the internal organisation of Ptuj College, as not a single lecturer is employed at the college. We also identified shortcomings in ensuring the quality cycle, as certain inconsistencies in the evaluation of the institute seven years ago have still not been eliminated, and the quality assurance process itself is more formal than the desire to develop and improve the college. The fourth set of inconsistencies is related to the involvement of all necessary stakeholders in the management and development of the activities of the higher education institution. We are speaking about organizing and operating student councils, the academic council 28 and the college senate, where students are not properly involved. The partial discrepancy indicates extremely poor knowledge and engagement of students in the preparation of the self-evaluation report. In identifying the advantages, we focused on the distinct advantages of the institution, and there are certainly more. The main competitive advantage of the college is the focus on an interesting, not only promising, but already current topic of bionics, which should attract more attention of students and the environment if the college improved the quality of its operation. The educational process is the best part of the college, the lecturers are experts in their field, and the students are satisfied with the knowledge provided. Students are generally satisfied with the attitude, accessibility, flexibility and communication with pedagogical and professional staff. As the college operates within the School Center Ptuj and has additional agreements for infrastructure with other institutions, the material conditions for the implementation of the study process are good from this point of view. Despite some advantages, college has many more opportunities for improvement, not just those resulting from existing inconsistencies. The college needs to build a base of employed lecturers who will be more motivated to run the college. In this way, the college will also enable more research and development work and a more systematic development of bionic science in the scientific and, above all, professional field. The college needs to promote bionics and study programme more extensively. More cooperation is needed with local and regional companies as well as more broadly, college must establish a more formal relationship, communication and joint development projects. The college must also apply for various domestic and international project calls, through which it will establish cooperation with other domestic and foreign institutions. It should be noted that the enrolment status of students at the college in the academic year 2021/22 is alarmingly low, as the structure is currently composed practically only of students who are finishing graduation. From this point of view, the evaluation of the college was even more difficult, but this is also one of the reasons why certain activities of the institution are also difficult, as well as internal quality processes or. self-evaluation. According to unofficial information that the college has obtained a concession for full-time study, we believe that non-compliances will be eliminated in a relatively short period of time, and above all the college will be able to take advantage of many opportunities. Regardless of the improvement of the college's financial situation and the projected increase in the number of students, this will still be a demanding process that will require a systematic approach and a lot of work. We wish the college a lot of success in this. At this point, the members of the group would like to thank all those who made sure that the college visit went smoothly: Gregor Rebernik, SQAA expert, college management and all other stakeholders for constructive cooperation in interviews.