Qual-AI-ty Engagement is forward-looking project aimed at disrupting the higher education through artificial intelligence (AI) and genuine commitment to quality as derived from student engagement with society. It aims to do so by empowering key actors in higher education: namely quality assurance (QA) staff through comprehensive training and cooperation in the project and students, who are a major contributing factor to the entire project through their co-creation and participation in piloting activities. Student engagement in general, and with society in particular has been only recently the topic of academic/policy circles in Europe, despite its multi-faceted benefits. The concept of education-promoted engagement with society in general has been noted in 2015 Paris “Declaration on promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education” where “ensuring that children and young people acquire social, civic and intercultural competencies, by promoting democratic values and fundamental rights, social inclusion and non-discrimination as well as active citizenship” (European Commission, 2016) has been identified as one of the quintessential objectives amongst the EU Member States, especially in the light of various events in the second decade of 21st century. Going into fine-grained particularities, student engagement with societal challenges holds a rich potential in i) fostering active citizenship and preparing students for more active engagement in democratic societies; ii) cultivating their personal development through early civic engagement; iii) making significant contribution to coming up with innovative solutions for societal problems and affecting their communities, and immediate and larger social surroundings, iv) taking control over their educational trajectories as ‘producers of knowledge’ rather than just ‘consumers’. Universities have been often perceived as not taking a proactive role in engaging more with the society-related issues, and when they did it would be narrowed down to a specific domain only (e.g. environment). (GUNi, 2019) Following the remarks of Europe 2030 Agenda, it is blatantly clear that a plethora of societal problems can and should be addressed via HEI involvement to ensure participatory politics, multilateral, innovative & resilient societies, sustainable production chains, collaborative low carbon circular economy and social economy ecosystems. (Europe 2030 Agenda, 2019). While student engagement with society carries a lot of potential, it needs to be enshrined in structures of the HE to truly be exploited to its full capacity, rather than posing as a constellation of isolated (program-specific) interventions. This is where quality assurance staff can play a pivotal role. According to The Communication on Improving and Modernising Education “quality education for all is a foundation for social cohesion and an open society” (European Commission, 2016). However, quality assurance is oftentimes a neglected aspect of higher education. Majority of quality assurance mechanisms and instruments are based on quantitative data collection and interpretation. This approach often can case valuable insights to fall “through the cracks”. Very often quality assurance processes have been reduced to mechanical, “tick-the-box” behaviour. (Nair et al., 2010) Qual-AI-ty Engagement project aims at breaking the old tradition and enforcing a new approach to assessing the quality of education offering by predominantly focusing on qualitative approach and maximising on the efficiency of data provision by leveraging AI/machine learning possibilities. This project aims to empower quality assurance staff to take more proactive role in leveraging student engagement as a means of maximising the quality of the educational provision on the institutional level. By empowering quality assurance staff more to engage more actively with students and their endeavours within society, the aim is to create a nurturing space where society engagement on the part of students is actively promoted, visible and rewarded in the higher education landscapes.
Qual-AI-ty Engagement aimed to foster student engagement with society in HE by providing QA staff with AI-powered tools that enable them to efficiently assess qualitative data for taking a proactive role in enhancing student engagement with society in their institutions. The specific objectives of the project were: 1. Mapping out the status quo of student engagement with society in Europe, showcasing best practices and highlighting major drivers and barriers. 2. Engaging and training QA staff on student engagement so as to be able to evaluate. 3. Co-creating new modes of evaluating student engagement together with students as a means of providing new and more comprehensive perspectives to QA. 4. Creating a machine-based learning algorithm to analyse qualitative data on student engagement and efficiency, bringing about a new approach to QA instruments. 5. Forging a platform showcasing qualitative data on student engagement to increase the visibility of QA and student engagement. 6. Creating an Action Plan on fostering dt. engagement with society on the EU level, easily replicable by other HEIs interested in enforcing the same vision 7. Contributing to the culture of quality by including various stakeholders in the process of QA.
The Qual-AI-ty Engagement Project (Fostering Student Engagement through AI-driven Qualitative Quality Assurance Practices) was implemented as a response to the need of promoting engagement with society in higher education as a measure to promote “social, civic and intercultural competencies, by promoting democratic values and fundamental rights, social inclusion and non-discrimination as well as active citizenship” . The Qual-AI-ty Engagement Projects addressed the following needs: 1. The lack of a broad panorama of the status quo of student engagement with society in European higher education (HE). 2. The need of empowering QA staff to take a more proactive role in fostering student engagement with society in HE. 3. The need for creating a culture of quality on student engagement with society in HE. 4. The need of enhancing the quality assurance (QA) mechanisms and instruments, traditionally based on quantitative data collection and interpretation, to include more qualitative approaches. 5. Need of enshrining student engagement with society in the structures of HE. 6. The need of leveraging the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in HE for transforming the practices while increasing efficiency.