Abstract:

Continuing education and training is becoming an increasingly relevant and economic sector for companies, but also for (public) services, non-profit organisations and universities. Therefore, in the last decade, "quality" has also become a core responsibility in this field.

As an operational instrument of quality assurance, all new structured study programmes have to be accredited. In 1998, accreditation was introduced for the new academic degrees (Bachelor and Master) in Germany. The accreditation procedure is based on the European Standard and Guidelines (ESG). Each study programme (Bachelor / Master) must normally be accredited before starting and re-accredited after five or seven years. However, accreditation does not cover continuing education programmes such as certificate courses, micro-learning courses, etc. The international certification of quality assurance mechanisms of continuing education institutions based on ISO 9001 standards is one way of demonstrating a systematic quality management system. The certificate confirms that the organisation meets the requirements of its customers under standardised and controlled conditions. At the end of the 1980s, the introduction of industrial quality concepts such as Total Quality Management - TQM became increasingly popular, but mainly for manufacturing companies. However, the latest revision of ISO 9001:2015 takes into account the growth of service companies and their quality management needs, and the upcoming revision in 2025 will address issues such as sustainability, digitalisation and global uncertainty.

The main requirements and objectives are
- Maintaining the competitiveness of libraries and information centres;
- Support individual careers;
- Provide continuing education and training to meet current and future needs;
- Use modern teaching methods;
- Develop skills and expertise;
- Transfer knowledge into practice; and
- The future-proof plus strategic importance.

The speech will present the extensive certification process of more than one year and the benefits of a quality management system according to ISO 9001 using the example of an German university continuing education institution, its customers and institutions / employers at national and international level.

Keywords:

ISO 9001, quality management system, certification, continuing education.