Terms of Reference. |
Background |
In 2007, a group of Australian and New Zealand colleagues gathered at an AACSB ICAM event to discuss mutual challenges and the daunting demands of university business school accreditation. Following that meeting, an informal dialogue of peer support was formed among the group, and from this the Australia and New Zealand Quality and Accreditation Network (ANZQAN) was born.
ANZQAN is a community of practice (CoP). It is not owned by any single institution. It is not hierarchical or divided along academic/professional lines. It is a community of collaboratively minded individuals committed to capability building for the ultimate benefit of university business school quality and credibility across our region.
Membership continues to grow and so does the importance of the ANZQAN community in our professional lives as we refine and develop our respective schools’ quality and accreditation capability. It is important that we ensure that the structures through which we operate are fit for purpose. These Terms of Reference set out our structure and the principles and values that underpin this community of practice.
ANZQAN is a community of practice (CoP). It is not owned by any single institution. It is not hierarchical or divided along academic/professional lines. It is a community of collaboratively minded individuals committed to capability building for the ultimate benefit of university business school quality and credibility across our region.
Membership continues to grow and so does the importance of the ANZQAN community in our professional lives as we refine and develop our respective schools’ quality and accreditation capability. It is important that we ensure that the structures through which we operate are fit for purpose. These Terms of Reference set out our structure and the principles and values that underpin this community of practice.
Our Purpose
We are a group of committed individuals who have a desire to work collaboratively to learn, share and build the capability of our members to support quality and continuous improvement in university business education.
Our purpose is to promote best practice and build common capability to maximise outcomes in accreditation, quality assurance and continuous improvement in the Australasian region.
We deeply engage in a range of issues concerning international accreditation, responsible management education, and quality assurance in business education. This involves engagement with the leading bodies in international accreditation for university business schools, and in relevant membership organisations, such as AACSB International, AMBA, EFMD and PRME.
Our purpose is to promote best practice and build common capability to maximise outcomes in accreditation, quality assurance and continuous improvement in the Australasian region.
We deeply engage in a range of issues concerning international accreditation, responsible management education, and quality assurance in business education. This involves engagement with the leading bodies in international accreditation for university business schools, and in relevant membership organisations, such as AACSB International, AMBA, EFMD and PRME.
Objectives
The objectives of the CoP will vary over time but include, to:
- Provide a system of peer support for university business schools in their pursuit of quality and accreditation, through the sharing of resources, information, ideas, experiences and advice.
- Create an environment of openness and sharing where all members participate to enhance the collective knowledge and experiences of others.
- Provide a facilitated communication channel.
- Develop agreed positions in the context of Australia and New Zealand on key issues such as "Chapter 0 - country context" as developed for use in accreditation self assessment reports.
- Identify a common ground on key areas, for example, assurance of learning, internationalisation, impact, engagement and innovation.
- Achieve positive and ongoing engagement with relevant accrediting bodies.
- Act as colleagues rather than competitors to benefit all members without compromising their business school’s competitive edge.
- Create a link with other networks and CoPs such as UK/Ireland Quality and Accreditation Community, Australian Business Deans Council Learning and Teaching Network, UN Principles for Responsible Management Education.
- Keep abreast of, and participate in, leading best practice and review developments, products and practices.
- Support and encourage the development and extension of specialist knowledge.
- Be proactive around emerging issues.
- Demonstrate courage to be change makers and enablers
Membership and structure
We welcome academic and professional staff members with responsibilities and shared objectives associated with university business school accreditation, responsible management education, quality assurance and continuous improvement.
- Our members are university business school senior representatives, decision makers and enablers, including but not limited to, Deputy and Associate Deans, Directors and Managers.
- Communication among the CoP is facilitated through the ANZQAN Google Group.
- New members undergo an induction at their first meeting.
- Working parties established to develop specific initiatives can be made up of CoP volunteers of any size and structure.
- Unless otherwise agreed, any costs arising from membership to the CoP will be borne by the member or participant who incurs them.
Executive Committee
A core group of volunteers serve on the Executive Committee, referred to hereafter as “the Executive”:
- The Executive is responsible for leading and coordinating development of the ANZQAN community, planning and delivering an annual meeting, promoting best practice and exemplars around accreditation processes, and administrative oversight of the online discussion group and website.
- The Executive comprises approximately eight members from across the region and should include a range of expertise and decision makers. Further criteria for group composition includes: a balance of academic and professional staff; no more than one representative from any university; six Australian members and two New Zealand members.
- To ensure a continuum of experience, half of the Executive are encouraged to resign every third year.
- One member of the Executive should be from the host institution of the upcoming ANZQAN conference, and another member from the host institution for the subsequent year.
- The Chair of the Executive will rotate each year, to the member who is responsible for the conference for that calendar year. The Chair:
- Facilitates Executive discussion
- Develops the agenda and/or objectives for the Executive meetings
- Notifies the Executive members about the next meeting/activity.
- Note taking for Executive meetings rotates between the members, excluding the Chair.
Core values
The core values of the CoP include being inclusive, respectful, open and supportive where all members contribute and demonstrate collegiality.
- Members share knowledge, expertise and any other resources that they consider will be useful to all stakeholders.
- Members are respectful, open and supportive.
- Members contribute and demonstrate collegiality.
- Privacy and confidentiality is maintained within the community to encourage free and open discussion.
- Discussions at annual meetings observe “Chatham House Rules”, ensuring confidentiality of member schools. No person or school is quoted in contexts outside the annual meeting without their permission.
- Networking opportunities and collaborations between member schools are strongly encouraged and they are supported in the design of the annual meeting agenda.
- As a volunteer based CoP, participants are to observe a code of conduct during events and other interactions, such as in email and online, whereby:
- The views expressed are to be respected as those of individual practitioner members and not to be attributed to the group as a whole unless an official statement is issued by the nominated Executive member
- Members are not to use the CoP for unsolicited advertising, or any other form of commercial solicitation.
Evaluation
- The Terms of Reference will be reviewed by members every three years at the annual meeting.
- Effectiveness of the annual meeting and member satisfaction will be assessed by members attending the annual conference, and a summary posted/distributed for discussion by all community members.