Student-Centred Learning Viewed Through the Eyes of an External Quality Assurance Agency

The Danish Accreditation Institution's Response to the revised ESG 1.3 on Student-Centred Learning

With the revised European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG), student-centred learning has been given a new and distinct role in the European understanding of education quality. External quality assurance agencies and higher education institutions across Europe are in the process of discussing how the new ESG 1.3 will manifest itself in their different national and local environments. ESG 1.3 is also making itself felt in Denmark, where there is a long tradition of active student participation at all education levels, including higher education. In spite of being well-placed to live up to ESG 1.3, student-centred learning has yet to be explicitly addressed in the national external quality assurance system as well as in most institutions’internal quality assurance systems. In order to expand the scope of knowledge about Danish higher education institutions’ understanding and practice of student-centred learning and to enhance future evaluation of quality assurance of student-centred learning, the Danish Accreditation Institution has completed an extensive thematic analysis: Principal in Own Learning – European and Danish Perspectives on Student-Centred Learning. Based on the practices of 11 Danish higher education institutions, this article will present the analysis' findings and discuss perspectives on how the Danish Accreditation Institution can go about meeting ESG 1.3.