The Internal Quality Assurance System ensures effective and efficient achievement of excellence in scientific and technological progress.

The University’s mission is to contribute to the development of the knowledge society through high-quality research and training, using and fully utilising the most modern methodologies and technologies, promoting freedom of research, teaching and learning.

The culture of quality contributes to the achievement of the University’s mission. For this reason, the University’s governing bodies have set up a University Quality Presidium which performs the task of identifying concrete measures and pathways to promote the improvement of the University’s performance and to design, implement and maintain a System of Internal Quality Assurance under the ANVUR guidelines, in compliance with the relevant regulations (Law No. 240/2010, Presidential decree No. 76/2010, Legislative Decree No. 19/2012).

The University Quality Presidium carries out support and implementation actions of the Quality Assurance system for Education and Research, promotes quality culture, carries out surveillance and monitoring activities, promotes continuous improvement and supports University’s facilities in managing quality processes.

The Presidium organises informative training activities for the personnel involved in the process, internal auditing activities on the organisation of training and research, and organises and oversees further initiatives in the implementation of quality policies related to training and research activities.

The interlocutors of the Presidium, within the University, are the Government Bodies for Consultation, Teaching and Research Facilities (courses of studies, Departments and any linking facilities) for the monitoring and promotion of the continuous improvement of the organisation.

The IUL Internal Quality Assurance System will be subject to periodic review and constant modifications, with a view to continuous improvement, in relation to the development plans and the results achieved.

The University’s Governing Bodies, fully aware of the importance of this strategic choice, will use the Internal Quality Assurance System to strive for excellence in education and training, university research, and in administrative and support services.

The resulting Quality Assurance Policy will be used to define coherent and measurable objectives through appropriate process and product performance indicators, in relation to the needs of all IUL’s academic community (students, professors, researchers and technical- administrative personnel). The objectives will be used as a useful tool to keep under control and improve the level of the services offered in multidisciplinary basic and applied research activities, and in technical and administrative support activities.

POLICY AND OBJECTIVES

IUL intends to guarantee the quality of its institutional activities through the control, transparency and continuous improvement of all processes, with particular attention to the didactic and research areas for which the following policies are defined:

• Ensuring a valuable and highly attractive educational provision tailored to the needs of stakeholders (world of work and social partners, the students and their families, teaching staff, society as a whole).
• Ensuring high-quality training pathways through appropriate teaching, and consolidating academics- students relationship.
• Promoting the valorisation and incentivisation of students’ productivity and merit in the training paths.
• Valorising and increasing the services offered to students.
• Valorising and increasing the internationalisation process.
• Improving assessment of teaching by making the results transparent and using results in view of continuous improvement.
• Promoting research through policies to support the formation of young researchers.
• Promoting actions aimed at maintaining and improving the competitiveness of the University in international research, namely, community research and cooperation programmes.
• Encouraging international dissemination of research results.
• Valuing research results through “third mission” activities and relationships with the territorial system.

The Quality Assurance Policy for teaching and research falls into the following objectives:

• Defining clearly the specific training objectives of the courses of studies, in accordance with Dublin descriptors.
• Promoting academic educational provision to secondary school students, through specific orientation initiatives.
• Providing information about the educational provision, and support to students and families, through the University’s website.
• Building solid bridges between the world of work and educational providers to facilitate the labour market insertion of graduates.
• Encouraging the internationalisation process by strengthening bilateral agreements between universities and increasing mobility initiatives.
• Valorising and stimulating students’ productivity and excellence through forms of economic support.
• Supporting doctoral students and recruiting temporary research associates.
• Expand the dissemination of the University’s scientific production, including implementation of Open Access support policies.
• Enhancing financial resources participating in European calls for tenders and supporting the presentation and reporting of projects.
• Ensuring specialised services in the field of patenting and intellectual property, calls for tenders for research and innovation, business incubation and entrepreneurship.
• Consolidating and expanding the relationship with research organisations, local authorities and local businesses on innovation and internationalisation issues.

ORGANISATION OF THE QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM

The University’s governing bodies perform the task of defining the quality policy and its objectives. They take decision-making power over the redefinition of the quality management system, policy, objectives, and improvement actions, including the periodic assessment of the results of the Quality Assurance System, based on of the data provided by the Quality Presidium and the recommendations of the Evaluation Team and the Joint Academic Staff-Students Committee.

The Quality Assurance System is entrusted to a University Quality Presidium, appointed by the Board of Directors of the University, and includes the University Educational Manager (with the function of Chairman), the Coordinators of the Courses of studies, the Quality Assurance system Responsible of the University, the Data Analyst Manager, and a Student Representative for each course of study.

The organisation of the Quality Assurance system also involves peripheral areas (departments and courses of studies).

At the courses of studies level, the Quality Assurance system provides for the establishment of a dedicated Review Group chaired by the Coordinator of the courses of studies (with the function of Chairman) and including a course of study lecturer, the Quality Assurance system responsible, the data analysis manager and a student representative.

At the Department level, the Joint Academic Staff-Students Committee serves as permanent observer on didactic activities. The Commission is in charge of: carrying out monitoring of the educational provision and of the quality of the teaching, as well as of the services provided to students by professors and researchers; identifying indicators for the evaluation of their results; formulating opinions on the activation and the abolition of the bachelor’s degree and master’s degree programmes. The Joint Academic Staff-Students Committee meets several times during the year and, following the analysis of the above mentioned data and ANVUR’s documentation (the annual reports on the courses of studies and the Review reports), draws up an annual report to be sent to the Evaluation Team and, to the Quality Presidium, for informative reasons.

In addition, the departments are involved in the organisation of Quality Assurance system for both teaching, research and technology transfer. Following Law 240/2010, the educational provision rests with the Departments which, are regularly engaged in the drafting of the annual report on departmental research. Through the annual report on departmental research each department collects and submits to ANVUR the data on its research and on the relationship between university and society. In particular, in compiling the first part of the annual reports on Departmental Research, the Department is required to carry out programming activities for its research objectives, draft policy statements regarding the Quality Assurance system and reviews.

The evaluation unit is in charge of the internal appraisal of administrative management (Laws 537/93, 370/150 and 240/2010), teaching and research activities, interventions in support of the right to education, through the verification of the correct use of public resources, the impartiality and good performance of administrative action, the productivity of teaching and research. In addition to Law 240/2010, the ministerial decree 47/2013 allocates additional tasks to the evaluation unit, regarding quality assurance system evaluation, also in relation to the available resources, the assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes and the organisational structure of the University, as well as actions for improvement, evaluation and implementation of the Quality Assurance system for training and research for courses of studies and Departments.

AVA PROCESSES

The “AVA System” (Self-Evaluation, Evaluation and Accreditation) is the set of activities, carried out by ANVUR and the Universities, providing for the initial and periodic accreditation of the courses of studies and the universities, periodic quality assessment, monitoring of efficiency and results achieved by universities, enhancement of the self-assessment system of quality and the effectiveness of university teaching and research activities.

The AVA system provides two types of accreditations:

• INITIAL ACCREDITATION: the authorisation by MIUR to activate venues and courses, following the verification of the possession of the requirements. This procedure replaces RAD and OFF.F with the check of the minimum requirements and the educational provision by the Ministry of Education, Universities and research. Annually, the University has to renew the accreditation, or propose a change of courses or locations, with a new initial accreditation procedure.
• PERIODIC ACCREDITATION: ANVUR’s assessment of efficiency, economic-financial sustainability and academic research achievements and quality assurance of the University, based on specific indicators provided by the Agency itself.