The Quality Management System is developed under the project entitled “Quality Assurance of educational, research activities and services and infrastructure of AUTh (QMS – AUTH)”. Funded by the European Union (European Social Fund) and National Resources and is included in the Operational Programme “Education and Lifelong Learning” (ELLP –ΕΚΔιΒιΜ), of ESPA 2007-2013, Priority Axis 2, “Upgrading of the quality of education and promotion of the social integration in the 3 exit districts”. According to the project schedule, the first part of the system has already been completed, while its first version is expected to be completed by the end of the academic year 2011-2012. A gradual implementation of its various subsystems is to be conducted during the current academic year (2011-2012), while it will be available in full function in the next academic year. The customization and optimization of the system, once its completed, will be an ongoing process. The acquisition and processing a plethora of data from all entities that consist AUTh is required in the framework of the QMS. A key feature that governs its development is the utilization and support of the elements and data that are already available or being collected by the units or departments of AUTh. For this reason, is made every possible effort of interconnection of the QMS to other systems, such as the Students’ Care applications of I.T., the University Directory Service (PYKA) and the central AUTh user authentication mechanism of I.T., the applications of Central Administration (Personnel Management, Economic Affairs & Supplies, Educational Programmes), the Institutional Repository of Scientific Publications (IKEE) of the Central Library and Research Committee’s Charter for Researchers. Furthermore, the development of QMS creates suitable conditions for: Reliability testing, homogenization and synchronization of the primary data related to quality (between different systems and applications). Upgrading of the applications, when they do not provide the necessary data associated to quality. Improving the existing administrative procedures and creating new ones, when and if considered required for the registration of the necessary data associated to quality. Basic principle of QMS is to avoid duplicate entries of the same data for the whole of the educational, research, administrative and social work of AUTh’s members, on two or more databases for avoiding mistakes, to facilitating and time saving for all stakeholders. QMS is available to everyone via Internet. However, the accessible information to any anonymous and logged in users will depend on their position and role in the academic community. A special effort is being carried out in order to make the system compatible with the general users management policy of AUTh. Thus, members of AUTh (students, academic and research staff and other staff) will be able to access the system using their institutional account. Which means that a new account will not be required. The QMS consists of the following subsystems: e - Study Guide e - Study Guide × In the QMS there is a list of all active courses for undergraduate and graduate programmes offered in A.U.Th. The information available regarding the courses is derived from data registered by the Secretariats on the system of electronic secretariat, as well as from the special forms of course description which will be filled through the QMS by the Teaching Staff. In addition to the online availability of the e - Study Guide, anyone interested will be able to export it as an electronic file. So far the progress of implementing the electronic Studies' guide is available through the website of the electronic Studies' guide. [ e - Study Guide ] Note: This is applicable for the academic units that synchronize their students' database with the central students' database supported by I.C.T. – A.U.Th. The Faculty of Agriculture and the School of Philosophy and Pedagogy do not take part. Courses' Evaluation Questionnaires Courses' Evaluation Questionnaires × The filling in of the Courses’ Evaluation Questionnaires for each semester by the students may be accomplished through the QMS. After entering the system, students of Aristotle University can find on their personal webpage only the courses they can evaluate. The filling in of the questionnaires can be done through they system at the end of each semester. By their submission, the responses of students will undergo automatic data processing and the anonymous results of their analysis will be available to the instructors of the courses, also through the QMS. The Internal Evaluation Group (OM.E.A.) of each academic unit will have access to evaluation results for all subjects, as well as to consolidated results. Note: This is applicable for the academic units that synchronize their students’ database with the central students database supported by I.T. – A.U.Th. The Faculty of Agriculture and the School of Philosophy and Pedagogy do not take part Inventory Cards Inventory Cards × The mandatory completion of inventory cards (courses’, faculty members’ etc.) that until now was conducted through hard copy can now be carried through the Q.M.S. Given the fact that the Secretariats record timely which faculty members teach which courses in the current academic semester, by entering the system, the faculty members will find in their personal page their Inventory Card, as well as the Inventory Card of the courses that they teach. Except for the criteria set by the HQAA, the Inventory Cards will cover those of ECTS, the Diploma Supplement and other international programmes as well. Their completion will be conducted directly into the system and once they are submitted they will be automatically recorded and processed. The results of their analysis will be available through the system to the persons concerned. Data regarding the Secretariat should be recorded in their own system. Such data are courses metadata, as provided from the Curricula of each School (syllabus, scope, skills, etc.) and rarely change. These data will be accessible but not editable by the faculty members. The faculty members should only complete those data regarding their way of teaching the specific course in each academic semester (learning instance). Faculty Projects Database Faculty Projects Database × A home page will be created, in collaboration with the Research Committee and the Central Library, which will contain all the educational, research, administrative and social work of the members of A.U.Th. and which can be used as their personal page, if they wish. This page will unify the data of the EU Researcher Profile and the publications from I.K.E.E. (Institutional Repository of Scientific Publications) of the Central Library. Thus avoid multiple registration of the same information in different systems. The work of MODIP will contribute to the data supplementation of both the Researcher Profile and IKEE, with data missing from these while found in other databases. Especially in regard to the IKEE, all the publications of AUTh members, included in the Web of Science, will be added initially and in an automated way, through a suitable tool (InCite) funded by the Research Committee. The work of MODIP will actively contribute in the complementation of the publications of members of AUTh, which are not included in this list. Following that, the faculty members, will just have to update the list of their publications in the central database of IKEE. The list of publications of the members of each academic unit, in the last 5 years, can be exported through the system, in order to be printed or attached as an appendix to the internal evaluation report. Quality Indicators Quality Indicators × The quality indicators that are derived from the analysis of the criteria of H.Q.A.A. will be calculated automatically by the responses of faculty members to the inventory reports they will fill in and submit through the QMS. These indicators will be presented to the Quality Assurance Unit (MO.DI.P.) and the Internal Evaluation Groups (OM.E.A.) in such a way as to facilitate the extraction of conclusions for the evaluation reports of their academic units. Statistic Reports Statistic Reports × The QMS will be able to produce tables and graphs with data and indicators of the operation of Academic Units. There will also be the possibility to export the Annex of tables that must accompany each annual report and each total evaluation report, whereas the relative data is available in the system. Evaluation Reports Evaluation Reports × The QMS will provide the possibility of management and research of Evaluation Reports. The Internal Evaluation Group (OM.E.A.) can submit and/or to prepare through Q.M.S. their annual and total evaluation reports. The audit of the reports and the feedback to OM.E.A. through MO.DI.P. will also be made through the system,while the internal and external reports of the academic units of the Institution, that have been submitted and approved by the H.Q.A.A. will be available through the system to any interested member of the Aristotle University.