Quality assurance
Accreditation
MSc EF programme is one of the first EMJMD programmes in the world that has been accredited according to the European approach for quality assurance of the joint programmes. The accreditation was conducted by the Agency for Quality Assurance Agency (AQAS) and is valid until 30 September 2025. The accreditation procedure and the decision are based on the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG). The MSc EF programme complies with the AQAS criteria for programme accreditation and is in compliance with the requirements defined by ESG.
Report and decision (PDF)
Joint programmes that used the European Approach
Consortium Board
In MSc European Forestry, the Consortium Board is in charge of student selection processes and has responsibility for joint programme activities and for the Curriculum and quality assurance in general. Each Consortium university has a representative in the Consortium Board (CB), and depending on the agenda points addressed in the CB meeting, ad-hoc representatives may be invited to the meeting by any of the above representatives, upon agreement of the CB and without voting rights (e.g. alumnus and/or student representative from current first and second year students elected by his/her fellow students, local coordinators of the Associated Partners etc.). The members of the CB are to meet at least once a year: in spring semester and/or in autumn semester. Additional meetings may also be held by video-conference. CB members will also interact through an internet platform, telephone, e-mail and video-conference depending on the urgency of the matter.
Internal evaluation processes
Related to the quality assurance the Consortium Board has agreed to evaluate received students’ feedback annually. A major part of the annual Consortium Board meeting is reserved for this feedback analysis and the discussion of its consequences. Questionnaires are also sent to graduated students to get suggestions on how to make the study programme better fitted to the professional requirements.
External evaluation processes
The external Quality Review Board (QRB) is the authority responsible of external quality assurance of the programme. The external Quality Review Board is chaired by the coordinator Timo Tokola (UEF) and includes a representation of Industrial Associated Partners (Dr. Kalle Kärhä and Dr. Tuomo Kauranne from Arbonaut Oy Ltd.) and Scientific Associated Partners (Dr. Alex Giurca, European Forest Institute). QRB meeting takes place once a year. Depending on the points addressed in the agenda of the QRB meetings, representatives of local quality assurance boards and other possible stakeholders may be invited to join them. External quality report is provided for annual internal evaluation process.
Quality management and the promotion of sustainable development constitute integral parts of the implementation of the each Consortium university’s strategy and national external evaluations are periodically implemented as part of general university audits in each Consortium university. For example, the quality system of the University of Eastern Finland was first audited in late 2010, following the launch of the university’s operations earlier that year. The university passed the audit. The second audit of the university took place in late 2016 as an international audit, with some of the audit team members being international quality experts, and the audit language was English. The FINEEC Higher Education Evaluation Committee confirmed that the university passed the audit in early spring 2017. The third audit of the University of Eastern Finland’s quality system took place on 9–10 March 2022 as an international audit. The FINEEC Higher Education Evaluation Committee confirmed that the university passed audit on 3 March 2023. The FINEEC quality label is valid for six years, until 3 March 2029. The quality label indicates that the management system of the University of Eastern Finland fulfills the national criteria set for the quality management of higher education institutions and corresponds to the European quality assurance principles and recommendations for higher education institutions. Similar audits have been conducted also in other Consortium universities.
Database for External Quality Assurance results
