Quality assurance

Politics Faculty of Economic Sciences  regarding quality targets:

  • Continuous improvement of the management system through training at all levels and annual analysis of this system;
  • Achieving the quality objectives set at the beginning of each academic year and the annual analysis of their fulfillment;
  • Continuous improvement of the learning and teaching process, by promoting student-centered education.;
  • Improving the quality of scientific research;
  • Aligning study programs with the requirements of stakeholders, students, and employers.

 

In accordance with the Quality Manual developed at the faculty level, the priority objectives of Faculty of Economic Sciences   in the field of quality assurance and evaluation are the following:

  •  Student-centeredness of the university's entire activity;
  •  Orientarea învățării spre formarea de competențe specifice, prin utilizarea strategiilor participative în activitatea didactică;
  •  Adapting learning content to specific career requirements;
  •  Individualized university paths, motivating for students, and oriented towards innovation and professional fulfillment.
  •  Achieving a pragmatic balance between an academic culture and a functional culture adapted to the goals of each specialization.

The Faculty of Economic Sciences thus emphasizes quality as a characteristic of its institutional identity, by encouraging a creative-innovative spirit and holding each member of the faculty community accountable for achieving individual goals.

The Commission for Quality Evaluation and Assurance, established at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, consisting of four teaching staff members and one student, is responsible for establishing a set of concrete and achievable measures to promote a culture of quality within the faculty, as well as monitoring their implementation.

 

  • Procedures for initiating, monitoring, and periodically reviewing programs and activities undertaken

 

The processes of initiation, approval, monitoring, and periodic evaluation of study programs are an integral part of the quality management system at the Faculty of Economics, being essential to ensure the continuous improvement of the quality of educational services offered.

Regulation on the initiation, approval, monitoring, and periodic evaluation of study programs approved by the Senate UTM establishes the general framework, content, and stages of activities regarding the initiation, approval, monitoring, and periodic evaluation of bachelor's and master's degree programs, from full-time and distance learning within the University and implicitly within our faculty.

The monitoring of study programs aims to improve the faculty's educational offerings by adapting them to the requirements and realities of the socio-economic environment, in accordance with the national nomenclature of university bachelor's degree fields.

Through the initiation, monitoring, and periodic evaluation of bachelor's and master's degree programs, as well as curricula and course descriptions, the following are pursued:

  • ensuring the system of competencies necessary for a specialist, ensuring the compatibility of the curriculum structure at the Faculty of Economic Sciences with those of prestigious European universities, as an important element for the recognition of our diplomas in the European Union countries;
  • Improving the correlation of curricula with subject descriptions and avoiding redundant thematic overlaps.

The content of courses, as well as the existence of a course in the curricula, are conditioned by student feedback. This is obtained at the end of each course, in accordance with the relevant procedure, and is subject to analysis during departmental meetings and Faculty Council meetings, being communicated to the Faculty's Quality Assurance and Evaluation Committee.

It should be emphasized that improving curricula and the content of study disciplines is a constant concern of the Faculty. In the period May 2014 – November 2015, the POSDRU ID 138316 project titled „Development and adaptation of university programs to specific labor market competencies, taking into account the requirements of CNCIS standards”The general objective of the project was to increase the relevance of the study programs provided by Titu Maiorescu University in order to facilitate future graduates' access to the domestic and international labor market, by improving 12 bachelor's and master's study programs in the fields of Economic Sciences and Law, in accordance with the CNCIS and the dynamics of the entrepreneurial sector, but also by consolidating cooperation between universities and the business environment. As a result of the project, measures were proposed to improve the study programs at the Faculty of Economic Sciences.

  • Objective and transparent procedures for evaluating learning outcomes

 

The examination and grading of students are carried out based on criteria and evaluation techniques, specified in Regulation on Student Activity in the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System approved by the Senate of the University.

The process of evaluating the knowledge acquired by students is regulated by „Methodology for evaluating learning outcomes. The learning outcomes assessment methodology specifies rules, criteria, procedures, and methods for the objective and transparent evaluation of the theoretical and practical knowledge acquired by the Faculty's students.

The methods for conducting examinations – written exam, oral exam, multiple-choice test, or combinations thereof, as well as formative assessments throughout the academic year, shall be approved for each subject individually by the Faculty Council before the start of the academic year.

All aspects concerning the methods and conditions of evaluation are included in the Discipline Sheets and Curricula, and are brought to the attention of students and master's students by each discipline holder, during the first lecture.

In the final evaluation, in addition to the course instructor, at least one academic staff member from the same field participates – the academic staff member who teaches the seminars or laboratories, or an academic staff member from a related field.

Upon completion of each cycle of university studies, students/master's students are evaluated based on Regulations for the Organization and Conduct of Bachelor's and Master's Thesis Examinations approved by the University Senate and made public, according to the law on the website UTM. Based on these Regulations, the Faculty of Economic Sciences annually elaborates its own Methodologies of  organization and conduct of bachelor's and master's theses exams, and makes it public at least 6 months before the final exams of the June-July session.

 

  • Periodic quality assessment procedures for the teaching staff

 

For the evaluation of teaching staff in the Faculty of Economic Sciences, several criteria and methods are used, as stated in the Code for Assuring Quality in Teaching and Scientific Research Activities and detailed in the Procedure for Evaluating Teaching and Scientific Research Staff.

Evaluating the quality of teaching staff's work is a complex activity, being the result of:

a) self-assessment;

b) collegiate evaluation by the members of the Department Council;

c) student evaluations;

d) Evaluation by the Department Director.

Self-assessment is carried out by the faculty member and includes their own assessments of teaching, research, and community service activities, recorded on a specially designed form.

Peer appreciation is done through questionnaires. The information collected primarily focuses on the professional deontology aspects of each faculty member involved in the training process, as well as the personal qualities demonstrated as a member of the department.

Student evaluations are an important component in forming an opinion about the behavior, professional and moral performance of each faculty member. The student evaluation form for faculty is applied to all course, seminar, and laboratory activities after each university semester, and the results are confidential, being accessible only to the dean, rector, and the evaluated faculty member.

The department head's evaluation aims to:

  • List of manuals, courses;
  • the accomplishment of teaching activities;
  • The degree of fulfillment of performance standards by reference to the job description and the requirements for optimal functioning of the department, faculty, University.

The conclusions of all forms of evaluation are expressed in grades.

We also mention in this context the graduate evaluation form, a particularly useful tool for pertinent assessments of the quality of the educational process undertaken by graduates.

Following the processing of data obtained in the 2015/2016 academic year, it appears that 19 faculty members of the Faculty of Economic Sciences received the rating EXCELLENT, and one faculty member received the rating GOOD.

 

  • Accessibility of adequate learning resources

 

Students at the Faculty of Economic Sciences have a wide range of learning resources available: textbooks, practical workbooks, seminar workbooks, lab guides, educational CDs, accounting and statistical software, etc., for each study program and for each discipline. These learning resources can be found at the university library, in the departments, in the educational and scientific research laboratories, etc. Students have free access to all these resources, and some of them can also be purchased at a cost through the educational material sales points (bookstore).

The faculty also has high-performance peripheral equipment, facilitates internet access for all students, and encourages faculty members to use modern presentation tools (laptops, video projectors, projection screens, overhead projectors, smart boards, etc.).

Within distance learning programs, learning resources consist of materials made available to students through the AeL platform or on CD: course support materials, syllabi/course sheets, materials containing assignments, problems, case studies, legal cases, project or essay topics, solutions to these, multiple-choice tests, seminar notebooks, etc.

The University also has terminals for printing, copying, and duplicating teaching materials (Copy-Center, ground floor, building M).

 

  • Systematically updated database on internal quality assurance.

 

Titu Maiorescu University and, by extension, the Faculty of Economic Sciences collect, process, and analyze data and information through the GISC IT system, approved by MENCS.

 

  • Transparency of public interest information

 

The Faculty of Economic Sciences provides current and realistic information and data about specializations, study programs, diplomas, teaching and research staff, and facilities offered to students. The information is provided through the University's website (faculty page https://www.utm.ro/facultatea-de-stiinte-economice-bucuresti/despre-noi/) or through flyers, brochures, posters, the faculty notice board, the faculty's Facebook page, etc. 

 

  • The functionality of educational quality assurance structures, according to the law

 

The Commission for Evaluation and Quality Assurance, established at the institutional level in accordance with current legal provisions, coordinates the application of quality-related procedures and the preparation of Annual Internal Evaluation Reports, supporting the University's management in the process of continuous improvement of institutional quality standards.

The Institutional Quality Assurance and Evaluation Commission has Quality Assurance and Evaluation Commissions at the faculty level under its purview, as operational structures, including the one at our faculty.

The activities of the Commission for Evaluation and Quality Assurance at the Faculty of Economic Sciences are carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Regulation on the organization and functioning of the Commission for Evaluation and Quality Assurance at Titu Maiorescu University.

To implement a coherent policy for quality assurance and continuous improvement, the Commission has developed Quality Manual from the Faculty of Economics.

The faculty commission annually develops a Internal Evaluation Report on the Quality of Educational and Research Services at the Faculty of Economics. This report is hereby brought to the attention of all interested parties, by posting on the UTMwebsite, on the Faculty of Economic Sciences page.