Study on the Diploma Supplement as seen by its users - naric

Guy ALTERMAN from ENQA provided an informative introduction on the description of
ENQA activities and clearly highlighted the role of DS as a tool aiming to facilitate the
recognition of qualifications. He also underlined the importance of site visits in better
understanding;
- the DS practices being carried out at different types of higher education institutions
from different countries
- the relationship between higher education institutions, students and the labour market
needs
- students’ demands and expectations changing over time that make universities face
new challenges.
Here, he particularly focused on the necessity of rethinking all the DS/ECTS activities
achieved so far in the light of a broad question “what is behind all the activities?” He also
argued that site visits organized at different HEIs should be considered as the process of
mutual learning for each participant.
2. Diploma Supplement Activities Procedure at Hacettepe University:
2.1 Background
Erasmus Institutional Coordinator and a member of ECTS/DS Coordinator Team of
Hacettepe University, gave general information about the Hacettepe University, i.e. its
campuses, faculties, schools, institutes, number of students and the academic staff.
Moreover, she presented in detail the DS/ECST studies related to the procedure of drafting
and delivering the DS at Hacettepe University. In this presentation, she particularly focused
on;
- the technical part of DS work
- the creation of ECTS/DS Coordinator Teams at departmental / faculty and university
levels
- ECTS activities since the beginning of 2003-2004 academic year.
During her presentation, she also talked about the following two questions;
‣ Are students involved in drafting DS/ECTS?
‣ To what extent does Hacettepe University respond to students’ expectations in
calculating student workload?
Hacettepe University issues DS in English to its graduates upon their request –not
automatically- since the 2005-2006 academic year. However, it is important to note here that
DS is delivered to graduating students at first, second and short cycles.
At this point, the student representative of Hacettepe University, also expressed his opinions
and expectations concerning the involvement of students in drafting DS/ECTS activities. He
stated that the students at Hacettepe University are aware of DS/ECTS activities and that
especially the use of ECTS credits in Socrates/Erasmus programmes promotes the
awareness of ECTS activities among students. They are free to share their remarks on
DS/ECTS works. However it is not possible to say that they are involved in DS/ECTS drafting
as they can not participate in decision-making process. According to him, DS should be
viewed as an important tool that facilitates international mobility for further study and
employment reasons and, high quality DS in which the students’ profile is given will create a
certain competition among students and develop the content of the courses.
Another topic that arose during the meeting was the calculation of the student workload.
Selda ONDEROGLU from Hacettepe University talked of her role, as a Bologna Expert, in
informing the Turkish universities about “What the learning outcome is?” She said that within
47