DIUS assignment 2: Defining the university mission and identifying the underlying processes within each dimension the

university engages in. According to the UNESCO World Declaration on Higher Education (1998), the aims of the higher education have changed to consider the change in the educational paradigm and massification. Now it evolves around three major dimensions: 1) teaching and learning; 2)research and development; and 3) services to society. Within the frames of the new developments, the universities are to decide along which dimensions they will proceed. On the other hand, following the Armenian national development plan, one of the goals is to become comparable at international level, which requires fundamental changes in higher education management with the quality assurance being a core and driving force of its activities. Considering the recent developments at both European and international levels it is crucial for us to find out what the purposes of your university are and, based on that, the processes the university engages in to achieve the mission. This will facilitate the process of quality assurance mechanisms development that best meets the needs of your university. To decide which dimensions your university targets at and which processes are organized to meet each purpose, please answer the following questions. Remember that these dimensions should be aligned with the mission of the university. 1. What is the mission of your university? 2. Which of the following dimensions does it target? Please, tick all that applies. My universitys mission evolves around teaching and learning. If yes, answer question 3. My universitys mission evolves around research and development. If yes, answer question 4. My universitys mission includes services to society. If yes, answer question 5. 3. What are the processes within the teaching and learning? Please, list all the processes within this dimension and a brief description of each process. For example: a. Process: teaching (the teaching process usually consists of four steps; preparation, presentation, application, review and evaluation. To ensure the quality of teaching the university has to make sure that each step serves to the predefined aims and they are coherent with the programme aims. So, the aim of this exercise is to write down all the processes that occur in the teaching and learning process to identify the mechanisms that should be used to ensure its quality.) 4. What are the processes within research and development dimension? Please, list all the processes within this dimension and a brief description of each process.

a. Example: Research methods 5. What are the processes within services to society dimension? Please, list all the processes within this dimension and a brief description of each process. a. Special attention should be paid to higher education's role of service to society, especially activities aimed at eliminating poverty, intolerance, violence, illiteracy, hunger, environmental degradation and disease, and to activities aiming at the development of peace, through an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach. Any process undertaken by the university that covers any of these aspects is considered to be a process and should be quality assured.