Understanding of quality

At the core of our understanding of quality is the individual responsibility of our employees—a principle firmly anchored in the culture of the School of Engineering. Consequently, all employees contribute through their roles to the quality and continuous improvement of the programs and services offered by the School of Engineering. The foundation of our quality management is the ZHAW Quality Framework Concept, which addresses the continuous improvement and development of quality in the areas of services, leadership, and resources. Building on this, the School of Engineering has described its quality improvement activities in the Quality Implementation Concept.

An important tool for the external evaluation of our organizational structure and services is the Informed Peer Review process defined in the ZHAW Leadership Concept, which the School of Engineering implemented for the first time in 2019. The next evaluation is scheduled for 2026. The implementation planning is outlined in the SoE Informed Peer Review Implementation Concept.

Governance

The management board of the School of Engineering regularly reviews its organization, strategy, and key processes. The strategy is implemented through a multi-year planning approach. To operationalize these measures, we set annual goals, which serve as a management framework for organizational units and employees. A staff committee consisting of representatives from all employee categories represents employee interests vis-à-vis the departmental management. Student participation is ensured through class representatives as well as delegates from https://alias-zhaw.ch/sektion-t/.

Services

Academic programmes

We regularly review and continuously develop our range of study programs in collaboration with all stakeholder groups. Aligned with the ZHAW Teaching Evaluation Policy, the School of Engineering has developed an implementation concept for teaching evaluation, which describes the evaluation tools and procedures. Various methods are applied, such as surveys of employers, alumni, and students, as well as round-table discussions involving representatives from all stakeholder groups.

Continuing education

Our continuing education programs are evaluated multidimensionally by the key stakeholder groups, in accordance with the ZHAW Continuing Education Evaluation Policy. Similar to undergraduate teaching, there is an implementation concept for evaluating continuing education, which outlines the evaluation instruments and the stakeholder groups involved.

Research and development

An important indicator of quality for research projects conducted by our professors, teaching and research staff, and scientific assistants is collaboration with funding agencies such as Innosuisse, the Swiss National Science Foundation, or within the framework of the EU Horizon program. The evaluation of funded research projects is generally conducted using the agencies' own tools and procedures. For research or service projects carried out directly with industry and business partners without external funding, we apply our own internal reflective evaluation procedures. Another hallmark of research excellence is the continuous increase in scientific peer-reviewed publications.

Resources

Students and employees at the School of Engineering have various opportunities to contribute to the continuous improvement of quality. Regular employee surveys provide valuable insights for this purpose. Based on the results, we develop and implement appropriate measures.