WORKSHOP 6:Quality Assurance after Bergen: Implementing the European Standards

Contributions from Quality Assurance Networks

Francisco MarcellánFrancisco MarcellánDirector ANECADirector ANECA

11 May 200611 May 2006

INDEX

1. ENQA report on Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (SGQA) in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Basic principles, purposes, and aims

2. Possible actions, new tasks, and perspectives for QA networks

THERE WILL BE EUROPEAN STANDARDS FOR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE

The consistency of QA accross the EHEA will be improved by the use of agreed Standards and Guidelines

ENQA REPORT ON SGQA IN THE EHEA (BERGEN MEETING, MAY 2005)

THERE WILL BE EUROPEAN STANDARDS FOR EXTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE (QAA)

The consistency of QAA will be based on its own work submitted to a cyclical review within five years. A European register of QAA will be produce. Independence, official status, mission statement, resources, and accountability procedures are the key words

ENQA REPORT ON SGQA IN THE EHEA (BERGEN MEETING, MAY 2005)

1.- FOR THE SOCIETY1.- FOR THE SOCIETY

Providers of Higher Education have primary responsibility for the quality of their provision and its assurance.

The interests of society in the quality and standards of the need to be safeguarded.

The quality of academic programmes need to be developed and improved for students and other beneficiaries of Higher Education across the EHEA.

BASIC PRINCIPLES

2.- FOR THE INSTITUTIONS2.- FOR THE INSTITUTIONS

• Processes should be developed so that HEI can demonstrate their accountability.

• Institutions should be able to demonstrate their quality at home and internationally.

• The encouragement of a culture of quality both internal and external.

BASIC PRINCIPLES

• To improve the education available to students in HEI in the EHEA.

• To assist HEI in managing and enhancing their quality and to help the reinforcement of their institutional autonomy.

PURPOSES OF STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES

• To form a background for quality assurance agencies in their work.

• To make external Quality Assurance more transparent and simpler to be understood by the people involved.

PURPOSES OF STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES

AIMS

• To encourage the development of HEI which foster vibrant intellectual and education achievement.

• To provide a source of assistance and guidance to HEI and other relevant agencies in developing their own culture of QA.

• To inform and raise the expectations of HEI, students, teachers, employers, and other stakeholders about the processes and outcomes of HE.

• To contribute to build a common frame of reference for the provision of HE and the assurance of quality within the EHEA.

AIMS

ACTIONS

1. QA Networks

Real practicalities in in the joint interest areas leading to mutual recognition of QA decisions.

- Is the subsidiarity principle a barrier?- What does mutual recognition mean?- How the HEI, governments, and agencies are involved?- The mutual understanding inside the QA networks as a key idea in order to the implementation of standards and guidelines.

2. European Register of QAA

• The framework of QAA in Europe: Public, private, and thematic agencies already operating or planning to operate in Europe.

• The identification of professional and credible QAA in order to apply for the recognition of non-national degrees.

• The informative value for achieving transparency and comparability of external quality assurance of HEI.

ACTIONS

3. The central role of HEI

Following the Bergen Communiqué, HEI´s staff and students constitute the basic partners in the Bologna Process. Their role in its implementation becomes more important now that legislative reforms are needed.

ACTIONS

4. Recognition of degrees and study periods

- The degree system and the elaboration of national framewoks for qualifications compatible with the overarching framework for qualifications in the EHEA by 2010.

ACTIONS

- The complementarity between such a overarching framework and the proposed broader framework for qualifications for life-long-learning encompassing general education as well as vocational education and training.

- Current difficulties in the recognition of foreing qualifications as well as joint degrees.

ACTIONS

5. Mobility

The efforts to lift obstacles to mobility by facilitating the delivery of transit visas and work permits, and by encouraging participation in mobility programmes have been successful?

ACTIONS

6. Attractiveness of the EHEA and cooperation between countries

- The role of academic values prevails in the international academic cooperation.

- The extension of good practices in the EHEA to other regions.

ACTIONS

• Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA)www.enqa.net

• The European Higher Education Area - Achieving the Goals Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for

Higher Education, Bergen, 19-20 May 2005www.bologna-bergen2005.no/

• Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Further European Cooperation in Quality Assurance in Higher Education (PE-CONS 3666/1/05) European Unionhttp://register.consilium.eu.int/

• Agencia Española de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditaciónwww.aneca.es

THANK YOU

FOR YOUR ATTENTION