Evaluation
Changing evaluations: Hcéres undertakes an unprecedented consultation with stakeholders
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Hcéres has transformed its methodology for its 2022-2023 evaluation campaign (Group C). On 15 June, the institution gathered together all the stakeholders in the evaluation of higher education and research to allow them to comment on the changes underway, marking the first step of the bilateral discussions to come.
On this occasion, the stakeholders discussed the drafting of the upcoming reference documents and evaluation processes that will apply to Group C, as well as the attention that the evaluation should give to issues of research integrity and open science.
The changes presented by Hcéres include:
- for institutions, the construction of a single standard that is both simple and rich, and can adapt to the specifics of each institution, by collecting their expectations before their evaluation,
- for research entities, implementation of the concept of expert panels. An external scientific committee could make up around twenty of these panels in the three major fields (science and technology, humanities and social sciences and life sciences) for a period of three years. Institutional or external experts could then supplement these panels as needed. This approach has the advantage of producing a more coherent and homogeneous evaluation and allowing for a transversal approach to a disciplinary area.
- for academic programmes, a redefinition of the granularity of the evaluation for the three Bachelor-Master-Doctorate cycles as part of a truly integrated evaluation to assess the institution's educational policy.
The participants held a rich discussion on their expectations regarding the changes, to be taken into account and integrated into its processes by Hcéres. "We heard your messages," Thierry Coulhon concluded after the meeting. The President of Hcéres also reiterated the "need for our community to interact and dialogue with the rest of society, especially students and international contacts".
Over the coming months, the consultation process will continue so as to arrive at a presentation of the standards for Group C to the HCERES Board on 25 October, followed by presentations to the institutions concerned by this evaluation campaign.