Proposal of Meta-Evaluation in the Computer Engineering Career of the Distance State University of Costa Rica

The Mission of the Academic Quality Management Institute (Instituto de Gestión de la Calidad Académica, IGESCA) of the Distance State University (Universidad Estatal a Distancia, UNED) is to promote the culture of quality through research, dissemination, and development of systems and indicators. In addition, it is in charge of providing counseling in the self-assessment processes of undergraduate and postgraduate programs aimed at obtaining the accreditation of academic excellence required by the National Accreditation System for Higher Education (SINAES) in Costa Rica. On February 21 in 2017, the computer engineering career received an accreditation certificate for the following: (a) diploma and bachelor’s in computer engineering; (b) bachelor’s degree (licenciatura) in computer engineering; (c) bachelor’s degree (licenciatura) in computer science and software quality; (d) bachelor’s degree (licenciatura) in computer science and project management; and (e) bachelor’s degree (licenciatura) in computer engineering and web application development. The career as a whole was awarded in an official ceremony held in the central facilities of the UNED, where the authorities participated. Accreditation by SINAES was done according to Agreement-National Accreditation Council (CAN) -393-2016, in session on October 14, 2016 through Act 1089-2016 and ratified on November 4, 2016. SINAES accreditation is paradoxical for the Computer engineering career. The self-evaluation processese stablished by an accrediting agency to publicly certify that the career has quality criteria represent an end and a beginning as well. It is the end of a a strenuous period of facing difficult work processes of the career staff accompanied by the IGESCA adviser and receiving external evaluation of three specialists in the field (academic pairs), two international professionals and a national one, who verify that the career complies with the criteria and standards of the SINAES Accreditation Manual and recommend its accreditation, so that it can subsequently be approved by the SINAES Council, and thus, receive the accreditation certificate. It is the beginning of a new stage: the fulfillment of improvement actions incorporated in the commitment resulting from the self-evaluation, to turn the weaknesses into improvement opportunities and to maintain tested standards for the purpose of continuous improvement. This is why it is important to evaluate the self-assessment of the degree courses, in this case, the computer engineering career, always in search of quality, validity, reliability, and continuous improvement. It is here where the term meta-evaluation is referred both as a higher level and a new concept of institutional evaluation.