Networking visit of SEE QA experts to the Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS) and the Bologna Secretariat | ERI SEE

19-20 October 2011, Bucharest, Romania

Quality of education and its continues enhancement has been at the forefront of numerous education reform initiatives across Europe and beyond. The ultimate goal of the quality discussions is to enhance provision of quality education for all students, taking into account the changing nature of higher education and diversity of students. Although there are differing concepts to quality assurance, quality assurance agencies are seen as a support for higher education institutions in their continuing development and, equally, have a key role as protectors of the public interest.

Quality assurance has been a corner stone of establishment of the European Higher Education Area, as well as the European Research Area. Despite remarkable progress in European Cooperation in Quality Assurance which resulted in the adoption of the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance and establishment of the European Register for Quality Assurance Agencies, quality assurance is far from being a closed point of discussion in the EHEA, as stated on the Bologna Secretariat website. The ongoing debates include, amongst others: how to balance accountability and improvement within higher education institutions, on the one hand, and the shared responsibilities of higher education institutions, quality assurance agencies and policy-makers, on the other; how to make real the roles of different stakeholder groups (students, the business world, etc) and how to provide these groups with an adequate level of information; how to handle the increasing diversity across higher education (diversity of pedagogies, of institutions, of students, of expectations, of missions) and across national quality assurance settings; how to face the current economical constraints: budgetary cuts and pressures for commercialization of higher education.

Within the framework of ERI SEE, as stated in the ERI SEE Work Programme, development of institutional cooperation in the field of quality assurance in higher education is essential for enhanced performance of the South East Europe in the European Higher Education Area.

Peer to peer learning visits between Quality Assurance Agencies have been taking place under the ERI SEE umbrella and with ERI SEE support. The next study visit to the Quality Assurance Agency in Romania will also provide an opportunity for Quality Assurance Agencies to learn from each other and exchange their experience and practice.

Furthermore, the meeting of Quality Assurance Agencies will provide an opportunity for the Quality Assurance Agencies to discuss Global and European trends in quality assurance policy, as well as the role of European Standards and Guidelines in Quality Assurance (ESG). The agencies will get informed about the preliminary results of the MAP ESG project (Mapping the implementation and application of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area) coordinated by ENQA. In addituion the meeting will offer the opportunity to receive information about the role and application procedures for European Quality Assurance.Register. Exchange of experience with regard to the implementation of ESG and agency review process is envisaged on this theme within the Agenda of the event.

Finally, the event will provide an opportunity for the Quality Assurance Agencies to discuss the ongoing initiatives of cooperation in the region in this field, such as the Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education and the UNESCO-GIQAC project which focuses on capacity building activities for quality assurance networks in the field of higher education in the regions of Central Asia and the Balkans, with an aim of establishing areas where ERI SEE can support such initiatives further.

The event will be jointly organized by the Romanian Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports, the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education and the Bologna Follow-up Group Secretariat who are supporting the event through providing the venue and logistical support, and Centre for Education Policy acting as the interim Secretariat of ERI SEE.