The Vetsuisse Faculty is primarily committed to the quality endeavours of the University of Bern. In addition, it fulfils international (EAEVE) and national (AAQ) quality requirements, a prerequisite for accreditation as a training centre for veterinarians. In the course of the curricular changes of the last decade, an institutional awareness of the objectives of quality assurance has been developed. The main focus lies on the evaluation of teaching and research. Some service facilities (laboratories) are also certified.
The QA-Circle monitors the QSE processes within the faculty. Its chair (the Q representative) is a member of the University Commission for Quality Assurance and Quality Development. The QA representative reports to the faculty after the committee meetings. The implementation of the faculty's objectives is reviewed in the annual operational meetings with the university management.
In addition to evaluating the individual teaching units and the teaching of individual lecturers, the faculty organises comprehensive evaluations of the curriculum. The surveys of graduates and employers are carried out and analysed by the Vetsuisse Curriculum Committee. Suggestions for changes are submitted to the faculty in the form of a catalogue of measures.
The faculty has implemented three central QA elements in research: Firstly, it has established research fields, which create synergies in key research topics as well as an improved environment for early career researchers. Secondly, the individual units of the faculty carry out an annual self-evaluation of their research. Finally, research performance is assessed by external experts every seven years. Both the annual self-evaluation and the seven-year external evaluation serve to recognise positive or negative developments in research performance and quality at an early stage so that appropriate support and promotion measures can be taken.
The QA guidelines of the Vetsuisse Faculty Bern are based on the QA guidelines of the university of Bern, developed for the university's core tasks. They define the QA organisation and the evaluation of teaching and research in detail.
QA-Guidelines University of Bern (only in German available)
QA-Guidelines of the Vetsuisse Faculty Bern (only in German available)
