The VET Quality Initiative – QIBB (Qualitätsinitiative BerufsBildung)
What is QIBB?
The VET Quality Initiative (QIBB is short for the German “QualitätsInitiative BerufsBildung”, see www.qibb.at) was launched by the General Directorate for Vocational Education and Training (GD VET) of the Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture (BMUKK) to implement a comprehensive quality management system in Austrian VET schools and colleges.
Development activities on the QIBB concept started in 2004. By the 2006/07 school year QIBB had already been implemented at locations of all VET school types in nearly the whole of Austria: at part-time vocational schools; at schools and colleges for engineering, arts and crafts; at schools and colleges for business administration; at schools and colleges of social and services industries; at colleges for agriculture and forestry; and at colleges for the training of teachers and educational occupations.
QIBB is oriented towards the specific requirements of VET schools and colleges and not only covers the level of individual schools but all system levels (including educational administration and school inspection). In the framework of QIBB the following quality management guidelines have been developed:
- agreement on common objectives at the levels of schools, the school inspection and BMUKK / GD VET increases the efficiency of educational institutions;
- the standardisation of processes creates synergies and freedom of action;
- continuous improvement of the learning, teaching and working environment increases the institutions’ attractiveness and generates satisfaction among school partners;
- internal self-evaluation and nationwide evaluation focuses ensure that objectives are achieved and promote organisational development;
- openness and information create transparency and trust;
- motivation and recognition improve the school and organisational environment and encourage active involvement in the continuous improvement process;
- managers assume responsibility for quality management, act in a manner that promotes quality and serve as a model to all;
- gender mainstreaming is regarded as a cross-sectional task that is inherent in quality management and must be tackled at every level of management and implemented in every area of educational institutions.
QIBB is oriented towards the specific requirements of VET schools and colleges and satisfies the criteria of nationally and internationally recognised quality management systems for educational institutions. QIBB is one element of the national strategy aiming at the implementation of the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for VET (EQARF) which was adopted in 2009 by the European Parliament and Council. QIBB follows the EQARF model as regards objectives, guiding principles, priorities and structure.
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