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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.8, No.1
Publication Date: January 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/assrj.81.9624.
Yskak, N. (2021). Expanding the Application of EFQM model for Institutional Accreditation of Educational Organizations. Advances in
Social Sciences Research Journal, 8 (1) 289-295.
Expanding the Application of EFQM model for Institutional
Accreditation of Educational Organizations
Nabi Yskak
Kazakh Innovative Humanitarian Juridical University
Semey, Republic of Kazakhstan
ABSTRACT
Relevance of this article topic consists in the necessity to find some
alternative to the existing practice of using of the 2015 Standards and
Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA (ESG-15) for
accreditation of educational organizations in Kazakhstan. This study
purpose is to develop the ways of expanding the European Foundation
for Quality Management (EFQM) use for institutional accreditation of
universities. Methods: comparativ analysis, formalization method.
Results: 1) the genesis, functions and levels of educational
organizations’ accreditation in Kazakhstan are described; 2) existence
of the link between EFQM and ESG-15 is proved, however, EFQM is
more adapted to institutional accreditation of higher education
institutions; and 3) it is shown if formalized data are used to prescribe
the scores when filling in the RADAR matrix, then filling in the RADAR
matrix will be easier, and subjectivity will decrease, and accuracy will
increase.
Keywords: Institutional accreditation in Kazakhstan; EFQM model; RADAR
matrix
INTRODUCTION
Institutional accreditation based on the EFQM model will allow to use this model more widely, as
there will be an alternative to the practice of accreditation based on ESG-15 established in
Kazakhstan. This practice is based on the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the
Republic of Kazakhstan (MES RK). According to this document, universities are recommended to
use ESG-15 when building their internal quality assurance systems ([1]).
To prove the possibility of this alternative, the need is to conduct a comparative analysis of two
models, namely EFQM ([2]) and ESG-15 ([3]), while limiting ourselves to formal features only
(names of criteria or standards). First of all, this relates to the requirements of the journal article
in the part of its volume.
Since the process of accreditation of educational institutions in Kazakhstan is not fully understood
in European countries, there exists some necessity to describe the genesis, functions and levels of
accreditation in the country.
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol.8, Issue 1, January-2021
The benefits of EFQM have been been found much in the literature concerned, however, based on
my earlier publications (for example, article [4]), I will give a brief description of the RADAR
matrix and indicate the reason for its infrequent use.
Thus, two questions are set to get the answers:
1) What are the advantages of EFQM over ESG-15 for institutional accreditation of universities?
2) How to improve the RADAR matrix to increase the applicability thereof?
Analysis of the literature in search of the answers to these questions has shown that researchers
do not pose the problem precisely in this aspect. Therefore, the used literature list is small. This
circumstance indicates this study novelty.
METHODS
Comparativ analysis method
1) Comparativ analysis is a method used to compare two or more objects (phenomena, ideas,
research results, etc.), highlighting the general and the different therein for the purpose of
classification and typology. In this article, it is used to identify the EFQM advantages over ESG-15
in institutional accreditation of the universities
Formalization method
Formalization is the meaningful knowledge display in a sign-symbolic form (formalized language).
Formalization serves as the basis for algorithmic and programming of the processes, and, thus, for
computerization of not only scientific and technical forms of knowledge but also the other forms
thereof. The method will apply to formalize the data entered into RADAR matrix profile in order to
simplify the assessment.
RESULTS
Genesis, functions and levels of accreditation of educational organizations in Kazakhstan
State regulation in the field of education is executed through legal support, education quality
management, standardization and control ([5]). The system of quality assurance of higher
education in Kazakhstan has gone through three stages of formation: - 2001-2005 - introduction
of the state accreditation procedure; - 2006-2012 - transition started from quality control up to
quality assurance, transfer of the state accreditation functions to independent competitive
environment; -2010 - signing of the Bologna Declaration and confirmation of obligations to the
ESG; - 2013-2017 - accession to the European ENQA network and the EQAR register of two
national agencies, revision of standards of national accreditation bodies in accordance with the
requirements of ESG-2015, participation of the Government of Kazakhstan in the EQAR Assembly
as a member, placement of Kazakhstan universities in international rankings. Various
stakeholders have been widely involved in the accreditation process, including the complete
abandonment of the certification procedure for civil universities; -2018 - expansion of academic
and managerial independence of universities, amendments to laws and regulations governing the
activities of higher and postgraduate education in the country. Advances in Kazakhstan's quality
assurance system demonstrate the international recognition of two Kazakh agencies that have
become full members of ENQA and successfully entered EQAR [6] .
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Yskak, N. (2021). Expanding the Application of EFQM model for Institutional Accreditation of Educational Organizations. Advances in Social Sciences
Research Journal, 8 (1) 289-295.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.81.9624 291
As established by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Education [5], accreditation of
educational organizations is a procedure for recognizing the compliance of educational services
with the established accreditation standards (regulations) of educational services. It also specifies
the function of accreditation. It is to provide objective information about the quality of these
services and confirm the existence of effective mechanisms to improve it.
Quality assurance in higher education should be understood as the process of evaluation and
accreditation of educational programs (program and institutional evaluation and accreditation),
as well as the creation and operation of intra-university quality assurance systems. In this regard,
it is necessary to distinguish 2 levels of accreditation: at the university level (self-assessment) and
at the level of accreditation bodies.
Characteristics of EFQM in terms of its application for institutional accreditation
As you know, the specifics of quality in higher education are currently reflected in the Belgian- Netherlands model of improving the higher education quality based on the model of the European
Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). The EFQM model is used to improve the self- assessment and management system, to study and measure the organization management
potential and to evaluate the effectiveness of management. Role of the EFQM model is to identify
areas for improvement, implementation of which means increase of the organization
competitiveness. Therefore, the said model implementation result is to assess the improvement
level as a degree of convergence with an ideal organization.
Advantages of EFQM are illustrated in the scheme below (Figure 1)