I think it is practiced, perhaps in different modes or strategies in all universities. In our university, lecturers must submit their credentials, must undergo evaluation prior to acceptance, and are periodically assessed both by the department chair and by the students.

In the US, at least through my experience, the credential for each posting are contained within the job description. These credential include degrees, previous experience, etc. Many times the search committee will contact the references or previous schools to ask about some issues however there are quite restrictive rules in the US as to what an employer can and cannot say without breaching confidentiality.

One area that may be of interest is that in many universities students, and other staff, participate in yearly evaluations of professors. In the New York State system this is done annually by students in a confidential and anonymous manner. Faculty are rated generally on a 1 - 5 Likert scale and comments about the faculty member's teaching and preparedness are asked of the students. A synopsis of the evaluations are generally available to the professor. While I have never really heard of a professor being let go due to such evaluations, I have seen conferences between professors and Chairs regarding the evaluations.

John

We have a double cycles assessment at the Univ. The first is for students attending to our lessons and the second is for the dean of faculty.

Students have about 20 points of view to assess their teachers/professors one by one on a 5 grades scale. Process & results are handled by the electric study system

The second cycle is when the deans ask their employees to report that what kind of scientific activities (publications & conferences) they have done the previous academic year. This meeting is a personal one happens every summer at the end of academic year.

Results of these assessments are taking into account in subservience of our higher education career.

In Argentina, a friend whos name is Lila Pagola, who is in these website, told me that she has to pass a full class with a comission consisted in professor of the Villa Maria, University, in Villa Maria Cordoba, Argentina.

Thanks for the answer. The question is related to work done about adult education at universities and the requirements to the lecturers in such kind of activities more oriented to people with work experience. It seems that the teaching nd learning processes are somehow different to the traditional higher education.

Taking into account that European Union has fixed the objective to increment considerably the rate of the population with an higher education (which does not refer only on university degree), the question comes up a) if the fullfilment of that objective will not conduce to a increment the professionalisation contents also of university higher education (vocational higher education) and b) to no teaching requirements which will go beyond the scientific reputation.

And it is interesting that in many countries there is are education tracks for teachers at primary and secondary schools, and also VET-schools, but in higher education there is generally an absence of such formal requirements.