UNIQUE

UNIQUe is a quality and benchmarking system developed over several years by a group of organisations active in and competent in e-learning. The manual states:

The UNIQUe system and criteria have been based on nearly a decade of research into quality certifi cation of technology enhanced learning. The Certification was designed by the European Foundation for Quality in E-learning, the [[European Foundation for Management Development]] (EFMD), the MENON Network, and EUROPACE – all of whom have decades of expertise in technology enhanced learning.

The UNIQUe criteria themselves are based on ten years of research and development activities which included:

• Three European Commission-funded development projects, bringing together 15 partner institutions from around Europe, looking into various aspects of quality certification of e-learning,
• A wide process of consultations with researchers, quality experts and European stakeholders
• A series of UNIQUe pilots tested the criteria and the process with ten Higher Education Institutions over two years
• The current set of criteria were further reviewed based on the feedback received by the first UNIQUe applicants, and from quality assurance agencies in Europe, as well as in Eastern Europe and the Middle-East.

There is a comprehensive manual available at http://www.qualityfoundation.org/downloads/unique2011/UNIQUe_guidelines_2011.pdf

In common with Pick&Mix and E-xcellence but with few other systems, there is a comprehensive set of procedures surrounding the criteria in order to guide how to assess an institution.

For the project that generated UNIQUe see European University Quality in eLearning

Overview of criteria

The system is divided into 3 Areas each with a number of Criteria groups (comprised of a number of sub-criteria).

Area 1: Learning / Insitutional Context

1. Criteria 1: Strategy and e-Learning
2. Criteria 2: Commitment to Innovation
3. Criteria 3: Openness to the Community

Area 2: Learning Resources

1. Criteria 1: Resources for Learning
2. Criteria 2: Students
3. Criteria 3: University Staff
4. Criteria 4: Technology & Equipment

Area 3:Learning Processes

1. Criteria 1: Quality of the Offer
2. Criteria 2: Assessment of Learning
3. Criteria 3: HR Development

Only a small number of sub-criteria are compulsory.

Analysis

The public version of UNIQUe did not appear until after the period that most cross-correlations were done between systems. This has to be done before any conclusions can be drawn.

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