Experience gained from the application of basic quality assurance procedures in a Greek university engineering department

Abstract

During the last decade, significant funding has become available to Greek public universities to support the convergence to the common European space of higher education. In a number of departments, this funding was wisely invested in the development of a quality culture, covering not only the educational process, but also the services offered by the department's administration and technical support staff. This paper presents the design and implementation of a quality-oriented studies’ reform plan in the Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Thessaly in the period 2002–2008. Based on the successful experience from its application, a significant part of the personnel and students have become acquainted with basic quality assurance procedures and performance evaluation. Experience and lessons learnt from this effort are reported and discussed in this paper.

Keywords:

• Bologna process
• engineering education
• quality culture
• university reform

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank all the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Thessaly, as well as the significant number of post-graduate, undergraduate students and staff who cooperated enthusiastically in this programme. Also, many thanks are due to the Greek Ministry of National Education and the European Commission for their generous financial support in the frame of the programme for the reform of Undergraduate Studies (EPEAEK II – European Union co-funding).