Quality Policy
Quality Policy
The goal of the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University is to answer the question
QUID EST HOMO? (What is man?), with the conviction that human beings are biological, psychological and spiritual entities. This mission is carried out as an investigation into the essential biological structures, as cures for pathological conditions, as the discovery of intellectual potential, and as the sounding out of spiritual resources
Excellence – both in the clinical field and in research and education – is not attained without constant commitment.
The Vita-Salute San Raffaele University is an institution which is demanding, based on religious and value-based principles, created in order to interpret its founder’s ideals in a complex cultural and educational project.
Excellence has always guided the university and has led to our choice of a limited number of students, who are admitted following rigorous entrance exams, in order to guarantee a fantastic working relationship between the teaching staff and students. The course curriculum has been designed with the goal of eliminating the phenomenon of students repeating exams. Attending theoretical lessons and practical exercises is mandatory.
This all takes place in a setting intended to foster the holistic growth of students with personalised curricula, a close student-teacher dialogue, the development of the ability to analyse one’s own field and to care for others, the habit of staying up-to-date and reflecting on delicate contemporary topics (death and suffering, bioethics, environmental ethics, business, politics, etc.), and a course curriculum that is able to balance learning requirements with the need to pay attention to personal inclinations and vocations. This Quality Policy has always laid out very precise core goals, aiming to also measure its quality indicators in a quantitative manner.
UniSR operates through an integrated approach in which the three missions, which are in close contact and constant dialogue, are manned by different actors who guarantee quality with a view to responsible and reliable autonomy, in order to place individuals at the center.
The fundamental principles that guide this aim, in line with the pursuit of the University's Mission and Strategic Guidelines, are:
- the orientation "to people, for people" with a view to continuous interaction and satisfaction of the needs of all the individuals involved (students, teachers, technical-administrative staff);
- the adoption of a Comprehensive approach that is inclusive and concerning the entire University from a vertical perspective (from recruitment policies, up to the staff, the student population and life on campus).
Main Quality Authors
In accordance with the Quality Policy of the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, and with the Italian ANVUR guidelines, the role of main authors of the self-evaluation process is assigned to:
in its composition which involves academic, administrative and student components, and whose competences, in accordance with the AVA document, can be summarised as follows:
- Support to the university’s governance bodies for the definition and updating of the QA policy and of the organisation for education and research and for their QA
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Definition and updating of the tools for implementing the university’s QA policy, with particular regard to the definition and updating of the organisation (organisational structure and processes) for QA of the creation of the Faculties’ research and courses
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Organisation and management of the training activities of the personnel involved in QA for teaching and research (in particular, management bodies for the courses)
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Surveillance and monitoring of the regular and appropriate performance of the QA procedures for the educational activities (with particular regard to gathering the opinions of current and former students, regular updates to the information contained in the Single Annual Document for the courses, the periodic reviews of the courses and the effectiveness of corrective and improvement actions) and research activities (with particular regard to regular updates to the information contained in the Single Annual Document for Departmental Research), in compliance with that scheduled and declared, and promotion of the highest quality of education and research
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Supporting the courses and the departments (and any co-ordinating structures) for common activitie
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Supporting the flow of information and documents relating to quality assurance, with a particular focus on those from and to the university’s governance bodies, board of evaluation, lecturer-student joint committees, departments and courses
In its composition which includes academic, internal and external administrative, and student components
- Assessment of the university’s quality assurance policy, with particular regard to its consistency with Italian and European standards and guidelines, and its compatibility with the available resources
- Assessment of the suitability and effectiveness of the university organisation (organisational structure andprocesses) for teaching and research activities and for teaching and research QA
- Assessment of the suitability and effectiveness of the QA system for the departments and courses
- Assessment of the implementation and monitoring of the teaching and research QA at the university, course and departmental level, as well as that of any co-ordinating structures, also with reference to whether and how the following are taken into consideration:
Recommendations and suggestions from students, graduates and staff, with particular reference to the results of the satisfaction questionnaire by the courses
- The annual reports of the lecturer-student joint committees and board of evaluation by the university’s quality committee and governance bodies
- The proposals and instructions from the university’s quality committee by the university’s governance bodies, the courses, the departments and any co-ordinating structures
- Assessment of the overall effectiveness of the quality management of education and research, also with reference to the effectiveness of the improvement actions
- Formulation of guidelines and recommendations aiming to improve the quality of the university’s teaching and research activities
The joint committees are nominated on an annual basis between the first and 30 th of June by the Academic Senate upon proposal of the Degree Course Councils and the Faculty Council, and are composed of an equal number of students and lecturers. The minimum size of the commissions is four members. The head of each JC must be clearly identified, and no members already belonging to the review groups must be present. The JCs may bereconfirmed annually for a maximum of three years.They have the following duties:
- Proposing measures to the Board of Evaluation for improvement of quality and effectiveness of the teaching structures
- Activities to publicise and promote the university’s quality policies to students
- Monitoring of the indicators measuring the level to which the didactic goals have been met at the level of the individual structures
- Analysis and proposals of the effectiveness of the learning results expected in relation to the relative functions and competences (consistency between
- scheduled learning activities, ECTS-credits assigned to these, and the specific educational objectives set)
- The joint student-lecturer committees draft a report annually containing a summary of the activities outlined in points a, b, c and d of this section