SUMMARY REPORT
Spotlight on Higher Education Teaching Performance
Report on the Final Conference of the international PROFFORMANCE project coordinated by the Tempus Public Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Innovation
Higher education teaching performance was highlighted at the PROFFORMANCE International closing event on June 16, 2022 in Budapest. 100 teachers, experts, higher education leaders, and policy decision-makers from around 20 countries attended the conference in person, and thanks to the hybrid format, an additional 80 online participants could follow the programme. The event provided an overview of European, national, institutional, and individual efforts to improve the quality of teaching and learning within PROFFORMANCE project and beyond.
The conference began with an opening speech by Dr. Balázs Hankó, Deputy State Secretary for Higher Education of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation of Hungary, who presented the political significance of the project implemented in international cooperation. Afterwards, Szabolcs Bokodi, Director of Higher Education of the Tempus Public Foundation, emphasized that the PROFFORMANCE project has been a significant milestone of TPF activities for the quality improvement of teaching and learning.
Representatives of the 6 PROFFORMANCE consortium partners - ministries, professional organizations, and Erasmus+ offices - presented how their national teaching and learning strategies relate to European policies and how the PROFFORMANCE project contributed to the achievement of their national higher education goals.
The protagonists of the conference were higher education teachers. All PROFFORMANCE activities and results presented are - directly or indirectly - aimed to support them.
Participants were given an overview of the “The landscape of higher education teachers’ performance” study for higher education leaders and experts, based on a benchmarking survey conducted among 156 institutions in 6 consortium partner countries (Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Serbia) on the evaluation, development, and incentives of higher education teachers. It presents main trends and makes recommendations for the (further) development of teaching and learning strategies of higher education institutions. https://profformance.eu/benchmarking
The main product of the project is the 3-dimensional PROFFORMANCE Assessment Tool provides a complex and comprehensive system for assessing the roles, tasks, and competencies of teachers in higher education. The tool provides triangular feedback from the perspective of the teacher, colleagues, and students with special regard to the priorities of the European Higher Education Area (digitization, inclusion, internationalization, and sustainability). The main experts of the project, Vilmos Vass, Daliborka Luketic, Jan Beseda, and Irina Darchia, spoke about the theoretical background, the development process, and the experience of online implementation. Ruaidhri Neavyn, an advisory expert of the Irish Higher Education Authority, in his testimonial, emphasized the unique and gap-filling role of the tool and highlighted its great potential for European University Associations. Jakub Grodecki, the resigning Vice-President of the European Students’ Union (ESU), praised the versatility of the tool and drew attention to the importance of follow-up measures as well.
Participants also had the opportunity to test the demo version of the assessment tool <tool.profformace.eu>. The full version will be available from the fall of 2022.
At the event, the representatives of the awardees of the first PROFFORMANCE International Higher Education Teacher Award presented their best practices and the PROFFORMANCE Teaching Excellence Database was launched: award.profformance.eu in which all submitted projects can be found. You can reach more information about the award ceremony and the awardees at https://profformance.eu/en/awardees-final-conference.
The event also provided a networking opportunity for the international higher education target audience. The PROFFORMANCE network has been founded, for which a platform has been created at the LinkedIn platform: linkedin.com/showcase/profformance
More information about the event can be found at https://profformance.eu/en/final-conference, where presentations, photo and video gallery are also available.
