For many years, EHESP French School of Public Health has been committed to a quality and improvement process aimed at satisfying all of its stakeholders. Aligned with the school’s strategic plan, this quality process is, above all, a mindset that encourages its staff, learning community and partners to engage in a process of continuous improvement.
The quality approach is a lever that enables the school to strengthen its academic excellence and organisational efficiency in order to meet the constantly evolving expectations of its social, economic, partnership and regulatory environment.
As a public health school, a national and international school, a public service school and a major institution, EHESP mobilises its expertise in various fields of intervention and, as such, has received several official recognitions for the quality of its training programmes and processes.
Labels and certifications held by EHESP
In addition to its HCERES accreditation as a public higher education and research institution, EHESP reinforces its commitment to quality through several labels and certifications covering all of its areas of activity:
- European Strategy for Human Resources for Researchers – HRS4R Award
- Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility – DD&RS Label
- “Welcome to France” Quality Label for international students
- Accreditation from the European Public Health Education Accreditation Agency – APHEA
- Qualiopi certification from French Ministry of Labour
- Accreditation from the Higher Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education – HCERES
Quality and continous improvement process: a collective and pragmatic approach
The quality and continuous improvement process embodies the values that underpin EHESP’s missions: excellence in training and research, the public interest and the common good, cooperation and teamwork in an open environment where skills are shared.
It aims to be:
- pragmatic: it must be nourished by the experience of each and every individual;
- committing: it is a long-term project that is necessarily iterative and progressive;
- unifying: it involves each and every individual in improving a harmonious and effective learning and working environment.
Continuous improvement: everyone’s concern
The quality approach is a natural part of EHESP’s organisation and is supported by the General Services Department.
Everyone, as a stakeholder in the organisation, contributes to it in order to provide a conducive learning environment for students and a conducive working environment for staff.
Forums for expression and dialogue are open to the EHESP’s internal and external communities:
- Satisfaction surveys are used to regularly collect feedback from learners on the quality of training courses. The teaching teams analyse and identify changes to be made to the courses;
- Claims from students and staff serve as an alert system enabling the swift resolution of any issues that might disrupt an activity or the overall running of the organisation, either temporarily or in the long term;
- Improvement councils and scientific and teaching committees bring together the various stakeholders (teaching and support staff, learners, employers, institutional partners, etc.) and promote the pedagogical and strategic management of the training offer.
- Team meetings provide each member of directions or services with an opportunity to raise any concerns or difficulties they may have and to share best practices.
All feedback is fed into the ‘Continuous Improvement’ dashboard managed by the General Services Directorate (DGS). Each point or suggestion for improvement is analysed in consultation with the relevant stakeholders and leads to either a short-term corrective measure or an action plan, in line with the School’s strategic direction.
Harmonise, secure and track for better service continuity
EHESP is constantly evolving and modernising its internal organisation in order to respond even more efficiently to the challenges posed by its environment: the digitisation of administrative tasks using robust and reliable tools enhances efficiency and enables the organisation to be managed using secure, shared data.
A group of persons responsible for coordinating and standardising ‘Training’ processes within the School meets every three weeks.
Led by the DGS, this exchanges and working forum serves three main purposes:
- To identify and address challenges and areas for improvement;
- To establish robust processes common to all training programmes, with a view to harmonising practices across the board;
- To ensure the smooth flow of information and the more effective implementation of actions.