Quality Assurance cycles

Following the approach described in the TU Delft Education Quality Assurance Plan, ES also bases its QA System12 on the Plan–Do–Check–Act (PDCA) cycle as shown in the figure on this page. The system provides a clear and continuous QA process for the ES organisation, its portfolio, and the individual courses – with the only exception of the online academic courses, as they are already part of the QA process for campus education. Their evaluation, therefore, sits within the faculty offering them.

In practice, the documentation ES uses in applying the model may differ from the standardised one used by faculty as it regards the programs, delivery methods, learners and legal status of the particular education offered, which diverges from that of regular campus education.

We apply the PDCA cycle to each of our three defined levels (Institutional, Portfolio, Course) to ensure a better alignment of quality standards and indicators.

It means that ES can organise the QA cycles for each level more effectively, taking into consideration the involved stakeholders, specific deliverables, and relevant time frames.

The iteration of the steps in the cycle guarantees the continuous improvement of our institution, products and services; its successful execution also rests on having in place appropriate QA governance, including comprehensive descriptions of who is responsible for carrying out which tasks and following which timeline.

2 A PDCA circle or Deming circle is a set of four successive, mutually connected activities with which the quality of an object can be systematically improved.