5th Anniversary of the Slovene Quality Assurance Agency (SQAA/NAKVIS), 13/11/2015, Ljubljana

1. European Quality Assurance
Register for Higher Education
European Perspectives for Quality
Assurance in Higher Education
NAKVIS 5th
Anniversary Conference
Ljubljana, 13 November 2015
Colin Tück

2. European Framework for
Quality Assurance in HE
Standards and Guidelines
for Quality Assurance
in the EHEA (ESG)
Common framework
Enable assurance and improvement
Support mutual trust
European Quality Assurance
Register for HE (EQAR)
Transparency of QA
Information on bona fide agencies
Mutual trust and recognition
Qualifications Framework
of the EHEA (QF EHEA)
Three levels (Ba, Ma, PhD)
Learning outcomes
ECTS ranges
European Approach for
QA of Joint Programmes
Agreed standards and procedure
for joint programmes
Criteria for
registration
Based on
ESG & QF
Applied by
EQAR-reg. Agencies
Referred in
standard 1.2

3. New after Yerevan
 ESG 2015 adopted
 Cross-border external quality assurance
“enable our higher education institutions to use a suitable
EQAR registered agency for their external quality assurance
process [...]”
 European Approach for QA of Joint Programmes
 Automatic recognition
“By 2020 we are determined to achieve an EHEA […] where
automatic recognition of qualifications has become a reality so
that students and graduates can move easily throughout it”

4. ESG 2005 → 2015
 Internal quality assurance (Part 1)
 Learning outcomes & qualifications frameworks
 Student-centred learning
 Focus on whole “student lifecycle”
 External quality assurance (Part 2)
 Clear link to Part 1
 Reflect broader common ground
 Quality assurance agencies (Part 3)
 Reflect international activities

5. ESG 2015 in summary
 ESG more firmly embedded in “EHEA infrastructure”
 Link between quality assurance and quality of
qualifications (through FQ-EHEA)
 Broader common ground
 Reflecting new developments in European HE

6. Cross-border external QA by
registered agencies (2014)
3
35
1 3
8
2 2 13 7 3
2
4
38 6
26
30
9 23 3 9 17 1 3 1
50
13
97 28 130
60 220 69 2 9 3 2 0 3 210 517 80 812 1187 888
Cross-border reviews at institutional level Cross-border reviews at programme level
Home country reviews
Total Cross-border
Programme 7275 253 (3,5%)
Institutional 745 76 (10,2%)

7. Opportunities and Challenges
Opportunities Challenges
Higher Education
Institutions
International visibility
Recognition of degrees
Most valuable feedback
Specific review/label
Identify a suitable agency
Language
Explain context
Quality Assurance
Agencies
International ambitions
Enhance their methods
Greater commitment
Acquaint themselves with a
foreign HE system
Standards and processes
Governments Institutional responsibility
International openness
Trust in European framework
Funding of external QA

8. But: national legal
frameworks lag behind
 Despite the robust
European framework
in place …
 Cross-border
accreditation/
evaluation not
recognised
 In addition/parallel to
obligatory national
external QA
 Duplication of efforts
for institutions
 Recognising EQAR-registered agencies as part of the national
requirements for external QA
 Recognising foreign agencies with own/specific framework
 Discussions ongoing
 Countries not recognising external QA by foreign agency

9. European Approach for
QA of Joint Programmes
Before After
Multiple, fragmented reviews Single review
Combining various national rules
and criteria
Agreed Standards, based on ESG
& QF-EHEA
Complex procedures, ad hoc
design
Agreed Procedure

10. Conclusions
 Important decisions for European QA at Yerevan
 Expectations from QA on the rise
 Fundament for other EHEA action lines
 Automatic recognition agenda
 ESG 2015: more coherent, robust framework
 QA agencies face the challenge of implementing
and helping inform institutions

11. Vse najbolše, NAKVIS!
Contact:
Colin Tück
colin.tueck@eqar.eu
+32 2 234 39 11