Pursuant to § 14 of the Universities Act, each university is obliged to secure its quality and performance by setting up its
own quality management system to cover the tasks and the whole performance spectrum of the university. Pursuant to § 22 HS-QSG,
this system is to be audited every seven years in order to attain an external certification. In this context, HS-QSG cites
a number of assessment areas for which the university should have quality management procedures.
The audit is to be contracted to a recognized quality assurance agency, which in turn will appoint a group of five international
reviewers who will – based on a written self-evaluation of the Angewandte and a subsequent on-site visit of 2-3 days – engage
with the quality management system and consequently hand in an assessment. They may approve the quality management system
straight away, or they may draw up recommendations or requirements. Based on these, the agency will make a decision on the
certification.
The audit of the quality management system, as set out for Austrian universities, is embedded in a pan-European context. It
looks at the correlation between the university’s strategy and its structures and instruments that are applied to reflect
on and further develop quality.
In the run-up to the last audit, the Angewandte decided to develop a very specific approach to best support the university
in achieving its objectives. The Angewandte sees itself as a dynamic and change-oriented organization that heavily banks on
the participation and self-reliance of its staff members and students. Communication, participative processes and need-based
offers of support are therefore given high priority in the implementation of its approach to quality enhancement.
In 2015, the Angewandte was one of the first universities of art to undergo an audit of its quality management system and
successfully obtained its certification. In the approach to the renewal in 2023, the Angewandte has strived for utilising
the process for self-reflection and further development as far as possible, hereby also determining reasonable adjustments
and commencing their introduction.
On the basis of the positive assessment, the accreditation commission of the commissioned quality assurance agency evalag
has resolved the certification of the quality management system on 29 September 2023. The certification is valid until 28
September 2030.
