Quality Management

Quality is a living entity. It must adapt to a constantly changing environment, moving beyond routines and habits. For this reason OTH Amberg-Weiden views quality as a collective effort: it is shaped through interaction among people - lecturers, students and staff. This requires a high level of mutual respect among all university members, a strong trust in each individual’s commitment to quality and a pragmatic approach to quality management that allows sufficient flexibility for subject-specific variations. This is accompanied by decentralised responsibility for the core processes of academic affairs and teaching, an atmosphere of mutual trust in the commitment to quality development, and a culture of open discussion and conflict resolution. This value system was established early on in the university’s mission statement.

Additionally, OTH Amberg-Weiden has articulated its understanding of good teaching and learning in a teaching mission statement which essentially compromises six fields of action: professional qualifications, the application of knowledge, personal development, promoting diversity, the strengthening of sustainability and a future-oriented approach. At its core, it's all about providing students with an outstanding academic education that - with the help of modern teaching methods - integrates research- and application-oriented knowledge with elements that foster personal development and - in the spirit of lifelong learning - imparts the ability to apply knowledge as a core competency.

The quality management system at OTH Amberg-Weiden focuses on the quality of academic programmes and teaching, the quality of degrees and the quality of study conditions and all associated procedures and processes (see Process & Document Management) within the university. The monitoring approach adopted for this purpose relies on a set of quality-assuring, dialog-oriented tools and procedures (see Evaluation and System Check) to address all areas of the quality cycle in accordance with the PDCA cycle (plan-do-check-act). It enables the university to reflect on quality issues and provides impetus for quality improvement.

The quality management system at OTH Amberg-Weiden is based on a decentralized management approach. Overall responsibility for quality management lies with the university management; however, the faculties play a significant role (principle of subsidiarity). The Quality Management Unit oversees and supports the implementation and further development of the quality management system; it reports to the university management. The QM committee supports the further development of the university-wide quality management system by making recommendations to the university management.