Quality Policy of the academic unit for the development and improvement
of the Master’s Degree Program "Environmental, Disaster, and Crisis Management Strategies"
The Quality Assurance Policy of the Department of Geology and Geoenvironment is fully harmonized with the Quality Policy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, making the Department of Geology and Geoenvironment (hereinafter the Department), committed to providing high quality Greek and foreign language higher education to the students who choose it, organizing and implementing Master's Degree Programs of high academic standards and significant added value, both in Greek and English, in the most important areas and fields of the Department's science. In addition, the Department seeks to develop a creative research environment, free scientific expression and work for all its staff and members of the academic community. The Department is committed to the implementation of this quality policy, in every Postgraduate Study Program it offers and will offer in the future, implementing the quality procedures provided for by the Foundation's Internal System of Quality Assurance, with the final aim of their continuous improvement. Through this Quality Policy, the academic profile and orientation of postgraduate study programs is strengthened, their purpose and object is promoted, as well as the implementation of specific goals set each year, while the means and methods of achieving the above are determined and the participation of interested parties in their evaluation and redesign processes are ensured.
In particular, for the implementation of this policy and in the Master's Degree Program "Environmental, Disaster, and Crisis Management Strategies", the Department undertakes to implement the quality processes/procedures provided for and analyzed in the Quality Manual of the Foundation's Internal System of Quality Assurance, and are applied at the level of the Department's Study Programs with the required specialization/individualization in the said Master's Degree Program, and in close collaboration with the Foundation's Quality Assurance Unit. All quality assurance procedures of the Department's Master's Degree Programs are subject to inspection, review and revision, which are carried out on an annual basis by the Internal Evaluation Group, in collaboration with the Foundation's Quality Assurance Unit. The processes – procedures applied to monitor and continuously improve the quality of the Master's Degree Programs are the following:
- The Implementation of Quality Assurance Policy of the Master’s Degree Programs, which includes specific quality assurance actions, with the aim of creating a framework within which the Master's Degree Programs must operate.
- The provision and management of the resources of the Department's Master's Degree Programs through procedures that contribute to the optimal choices, in order to achieve the creation of a suitable environment for the achievement of the Foundation's goals in terms of ensuring the provision of the required resources to necessary staff, funding, infrastructure and equipment, in order to operate but also to continuously improve the efficiency of the Master's Degree Programs in terms of the degree of achievement of the quality objectives they set.
- The Establishment of Quality Assurance Objectives on an annual basis by all the Department's Master's Degree Programs which operate or are about to start operating within the academic year. Specific measurable and directly observable annual quantitative and qualitative goals are selected for each Master's Degree Program, after consultation and agreement of the administration of the Departments and the Master's Degree Program, which are evaluated by specific indicators. The achievement of these objectives is considered of decisive importance for the improvement of the efficiency of the internal functions (administrative, educational, research) of the Master’s Degree Programs.
- The Periodic Internal Evaluation and Monitoring on an annual basis of all Master's Degree Programs of the Department in collaboration and with the support of the Institution's Quality Assurance Unit. In all Master's Degree Programs an internal evaluation and assessment of all the processes implemented in them is carried out, so that through the identification of elements and issues for correction with the implementation of jointly agreed improvements with the Quality Assurance Unit, the goals that have been set are achieved, with the final result of improving the Department's Master's Degree Programs.
- The Quality Data Collection: measurement, analysis and improvement of Master's Degree Programs of the Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, in which effective procedures are applied to collect and analyze information about Master's Degree Programs (student data, teaching staff, the structure and organization of courses, teaching and the provision of services to students of Master's Degree Programs, etc.) and the Integrated Information National Quality System of the Hellenic Authority for Higher Education, as well as internal information systems of the Departments and the Foundation are fed with data,.
- The Publication of Information about Master’s Degree Programs of the Department of Geology and Geoenvironment. Through this specific process, all information regarding the Master's Degree Programs becomes immediately accessible, up-to-date and formulated with objectivity and clarity. Checking the existence of a specialized space on the Department's website for the promotion of Master's Degree Programs, the existence of a special bilingual page for them as well as the procedures for checking and updating their content.
- The External Evaluation of the Master’s Degree Programs του Τμήματος. A periodic certification process by Hellenic Authority for Higher Education, which is carried out with external evaluation by committees of independent experts, is applied to all Postgraduate Programs of the Department.
The implementation of the above procedures in the Master’s Degree Program "Environmental, Disaster, and Crisis Management Strategies" will ensure a)the appropriateness of the structure and organization of his Study Programme, b) that the learning outcomes and the resulting qualifications of the graduates of the Master's Degree Program are intended to correspond as closely as possible with the European and National Framework of Higher Education Qualifications level 7, c) the promotion of the quality and effectiveness of the teaching work of the said Master's Degree Program through its monitoring by its Coordinating Committee, the Internal Evaluation Group, the Department's administration, and the Quality Assurance Unit of the NKUA, d) that the qualifications of the teaching staff, and especially of the external collaborators, are suitable for the training of postgraduate students, e) the drafting, implementation and review of specific annual quality objectives for the improvement of the Master's Degree Program "Environmental, Disaster, and Crisis Management Strategies", f) the level of demand for the acquired qualifications of the graduates in the labor market, through the investigation at regular intervals of the needs of the labor market and the monitoring of the course of the graduates of the Master’s Degree Program "Environmental, Disaster, and Crisis Management Strategies", g) that the support services provided to postgraduate students – including students with disabilities are of a high quality – meet their needs for effective attendance, e.g. easily accessible and available administrative and library services, online services, scholarships, and student welfare services appropriate for the Master's Degree Program, h) the efficient utilization of the financial resources of the Master's Degree Program that come from tuition fees in order to provide the necessary services to the postgraduate students and to facilitate the operation of the programs in the facilities of the Department, but also in everything else required, e.g. on-site visits to places outside the Department for their comprehensive training, i) conducting the annual internal assessment and review of the quality assurance system for the Master's Degree Program "Environmental, Disaster, and Crisis Management Strategies" with the collaboration of the Internal Evaluation Group and the Foundation's Quality Assurance Unit.
The Quality objectives on which the Department of Geology and Geoenvironment will focus its efforts for the Master’s Degree Program "Environmental, Disaster, and Crisis Management Strategies" will be the following:
- Improving the Graduation Rate of Postgraduate Students
- Strengthening the Quality Culture in the Master's Degree Program "Environmental, Disaster, and Crisis Management Strategies"
- Achieving greater Study Flexibility and strengthening Student-Centered Learning
- The Activation of Study Counseling and the connection of graduates with the Labor Market
- Strengthening the participation of postgraduate students in quality assurance procedures
- The improvement of the Connection of Studies with Research and the preparation of doctoral theses
- Utilization, Collaboration and Networking with Graduates of the Department and the Master's Degree Program
- The further development of mobility and extroversion through the attraction of Foreign Students to the Master’s Degree Program and Teachers from Foreign Institutions
- The improvement of the infrastructure and support services of the student community of the Master's Degree Program
- The further facilitation of the Accessibility of the disabled
- The promotion of equal representation of the genders
