16.2 What significance do the qualification goals of a study programme have for accreditation?

External quality assurance of studies and teaching has always been based on the principle that responsibility for the quality and quality development of study programmes lies with the higher education institutions themselves. This dictum can be found in a prominent position both in the interstate study accreditation treaty (Art. 1 Para. 1) and in the European Standards and Guidelines as the European reference framework (ESG 2.1).

For the specific program accreditation procedure as well as the internal study program accreditation within the framework of system accreditation, this means that the determination of the quality of the content of studies and teaching in individual cases primarily results from quality objectives defined by the higher education institution itself. Or even more specifically: The higher education institution defines qualification goals for each study programme and is measured against their implementation.

The qualification goals are thus an essential foundation for the entire evaluation of academic content and are therefore of central importance.
The extent to which the qualification goals are implemented within the curriculum (i.e., at the module level) is another key issue in accreditation; however, this must be analytically distinguished from the assessment of the overall qualification goals intended for a study programme.