Quality Recognition

AESOP Quality Recognition (QR)

* The new call for QR applications 2020-2021 will be posted on the AESOP website after the constitution of the new Excellence in Education Board in December.


Mission

Quality Recognition (QR) is a programme for continual quality support based on voluntary grounds, peer support and sharing of best practices for the improvement of teaching and pedagogy to safeguard the quality of planning education reflecting the changing requirements on AESOP member schools. The leading motto for AESOP QR is to promote excellence in learning and education.

The attempt of AESOP therefore is not to assess or to accredit the schools of planning but to enhance the scientific and professional quality of European planning schools. This is in the heart of AESOP’s mission. AESOP QR is complementary to the role of other European institutions in the field of higher education. The outstanding potential of AESOP lies in its capacity to moderate mutual learning processes among schools of planning in Europe and beyond, considering different planning environments, cultures and systems.

AESOP QR has evolved since 2009 and was instituted as a permanent AESOP activity by the CoRep meeting held in Venice in 2019. QR complements ongoing activities of AESOP in promoting excellence in planning education, such as the AESOP Excellence in Teaching Award.

Process

The process of AESOP QR goes beyond the mere evaluation of planning programmes. It builds on an ethic of peer learning and engagement, reflexivity, creativity, deliberation and openness to trigger change in response to societal challenges. It is an opportunity for member schools to strive for the excellence in planning education jointly.

The QR process takes place annually and starts with a call for applications from member schools who are encouraged to submit individual programme applications using the standardised application form. The form asks for information on programme curriculum profile and principles of pedagogy. Individual programme applications are evaluated by a QR working group constituted from the EEB/CoRep members appointed by the QR Chair. The process includes close interaction between the QR working group and applicants based on two interim feedback reports.

The main benefits for applicants are opportunities to engage in critical dialogue on the aspects of the programme with the QR working group, champion best practices within AESOP community and foster an ethic of quality enhancement amongst staff. QR is formalised by the AESOP Certificate of Quality for the programme accompanied with a QR Report, both valid for 6 years, awarded at the annual AESOP General Assembly. AESOP will publish an annual report showcasing best practices on the AESOP QR webpage which the AESOP community can benefit from

The Path towards Quality Recognition

• AESOP member schools from all across Europe are encouraged to submit their QR applications after the lanch of the annual call in the fall semester.
• The application and the procedure is based on single programmes’ recognition initiated by the AESOP school members on voluntary basis.
• The QR timeline depicts the pathway to obtain quality recognition (see link to the QR Timeline).
• Each application is evaluated by 2-3 members appointed by the EEB Chair.
• A QR working group is appointed by the Chair every year to process the incoming applications.
• After receiving the applications, ad hoc QR working group members and applicants engage in a feedback process comprised of 2-3 feedback meetings during the spring semester. Applicants resubmit their applications on the basis of these meetings.
• Planning programmes that are granted quality recognition obtain the AESOP Certificate of Quality and Quality Recognition Report (valid for 6 years). Both are delivered to the programme representatives at the General Assembly meeting every year. Due to the cancellation of AESOP General Assembly meetings in 2020 and 2021, the certificates will be sent to the applicants in the fall semester and published in the QR website shortly thereafter. 
• The AESOP Certificates of Quality will be displayed on the AESOP QR webpage to promote a proactive and cooperative process of collective improvement of quality in planning education among the AESOP member schools.

‘Standardisation’ of AESOP Quality Recognition Process

• As communicated by the EEB Chair during the AESOP CoRep meeting in Vienna in March 2020, an expert pool of the EEB has advanced working criteria for quality recognition, which are being used as a benchmark against which planning programmes are being evaluated.
• The reconstituted EEB will continue working on the development and justification of these criteria starting in the spring 2021.

Daniel Galland
AESOP EEB Chair

19 Nov 2020