Education and Promotion of a Quality Culture

The Quality Assurance Presidium (PQA), in collaboration with the Teaching & Learning Centre (T&LC), actively promotes the dissemination of a culture of quality as a value shared by the entire university community. Particular attention has been paid to the development of training programmes and opportunities for discussion and exchange involving lecturers, technical and administrative staff, and student representatives, with a view to giving greater meaning to Quality Assurance (QA) processes and making them more transparent, participatory and understandable.

These initiatives form part of the continuous improvement process (PDCA cycle), with the aim of guiding the academic community at the University of Florence towards a collaborative approach to managing processes that will enable the quality of the educational provision and services to be monitored and assured, whilst respecting the various roles and responsibilities.

The governing bodies and senior management take part in seminars focusing on the AVA3 system, accreditation and self-assessment tools. Targeted training programmes have been developed for lecturers, degree programme chairs and programme management support staff, with a view to providing them with the opportunity to develop analytical and planning skills for the continuous improvement of the educational provision. 

Workshops and meetings organised for student representatives across the University have enabled them to share and understand the vital role they are called upon to play, offering them the opportunity to explore the key aspects of quality assurance and the active contribution their role makes to internal evaluation processes.

Technical and administrative staff actively participate in specific activities and training sessions on quality assurance alongside teaching staff in management and coordination roles. The approach adopted facilitates effective collaboration and ensures that everyone is kept up to date with developments in ministerial requirements and best practices for monitoring and evaluating the educational provision.

To ensure wider dissemination, targeted teaching materials and training courses have been developed, which are available for self-paced study on the University’s Moodle platform.