External assessment provides feedback on quality of activities
The Finnish Defence Forces International Centre was granted the NATO Quality Assurance Unconditional Accreditation Certificate for the first time in 2015. Certification provides proof to cooperation partners that FINCENT’s operations as a whole and its courses meet NATO’s quality standards. This spring, it is time to renew the certificate.
Today and in the future, the goal of the Finnish Defence Forces International Centre, FINCENT is to be a strong, well-networked forerunner in the field of crisis management education and training. To achieve this goal, the education and training centre has to provide high-quality courses, seminars and events. The quality system plays a big role in attaining this goal and, of course, the whole staff committing to a shared vision is a prerequisite for the centre to be able to operate effectively. External assessment and feedback play an important role in the development of FINCENT’s activities.
Foundation laid by quality management system
For six years already, FINCENT has had the right to attach the NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) logo to its education and training products. The requirement for an education and training centre to be granted the NATO accreditation certificate is that it has an efficient quality management system in use, the ISO9001 in FINCENT’s case, and at least one NATO-certified course on its course programme. Certification of a course requires curriculum design and competent organisation of matters involving instruction which are in line with the Systems Approach to Training (SAT) process used by NATO. The provision of an annual educational activities report is a condition for keeping accreditation. On the basis of the reports of all accredited centres, the ACT quality team collects their best practices and solutions into a summation report distributed to the centres for developing their activities.
FINCENT’s focus on assessing its activities
The renewal of FINCENT's accreditation starts with the centre achieving a self-assessment report in which the organization presents all the aspects in which its activities meet the requirements set by NATO. These requirements are roughly divided into three: leadership and quality system, education and training, and FINCENT’s participation in the organisation, execution and development of training as a NATO partner country education and training centre.
The self-assessment report is submitted to an assessment team before the actual auditing takes place. The NATO group of experts will visit FINCENT in April unless prevented by COVID-19 restrictions. The team will carry out an assessment by interviewing FINCENT’s leadership and staff, examining relevant documents and visiting education and training facilities. A report compiled on the visit will serve as a basis for an accreditation decision to be taken.
Taking part in accreditation is voluntary. By participating, FINCENT makes sure that, today and in the future, its training solutions and methods will meet the requirements set by NATO for operations. Customers and students can trust the quality of the education they receive; FINCENT and its training programmes are regularly assessed.
