Aalto Handbook

Audit and evaluation

Under the Universities Act, ‘the universities must evaluate their education, research and artistic activities and the impact thereof. The universities shall also take part in external evaluation of their activities and quality assurance systems on a regular basis. The universities must publish the findings of the evaluations they undertake.’ (Universities Act 558/2009, Section 87 (Yliopistolaki 558/2009)

At a national level, the evaluation of university research is the responsibility of the Academy of Finland SA (aka.fi), while the evaluation of teaching is coordinated by the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Centre FINEEC (karvi.fi).

The starting point of the quality work at Aalto University is the need to evaluate, follow up and develop the quality and efficiency of our operations. The goal is improving quality and cascading the shared best practices throughout the organisation.

Audit

Audits focus on the procedures and processes (core, support and management processes) the organisation has put in place in order to meet the self-determined targets.

Finnish higher education institutions are obligated by law to take part in external evaluations of their operations on a regular basis.

Since the autumn of 2005, the evaluation of the quality assurance systems of universities and polytechnics has been conducted by the FINHEEC. All Finnish higher education institutions have been audited once and the second-round audits of the quality assurance systems has started in 2012 and will be completed 2018.

The audit by FINEEC is based on institutional reviews covers all functions of an university from a broad perspective. The procedure in the second round explores the quality management of degree education to a greater detail. The audit evaluates also carefully the extent to which the university uses the feedback it has collected or received and other follow-up data in the planning and development of its organisation.

Auditing 2016

The Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC) has audited Aalto University’s quality system in January 2016.

Evaluation

Evaluation refers to the evaluation of the quality of our operations, in other words, that of our teaching and research. The results and their place in the operational environment are evaluated against a certain set of criteria. Evaluation is the act of determining the value of a matter, action or measure, performed by an external and independent expert panel.

To evaluate the development, performance, and the future potential, Aalto University carried out a Research, Art, and Impact Assessment (RAI) in 2018. The quality of research and artistic activity, as well as the societal impact were subjected to an international evaluation to consolidate Aalto’s international standing, and to identify fields with world-class potential.The evaluation was coordinated by Research and Innovation Services.