Representatives of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan (MHSSE) and seven state higher education institutions from Uzbekistan visited National Entity for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education of Serbia (NEAQA) on Tuesday, December 10th, 2019.
The Republic of Uzbekistan delegation was welcomed by professor Jelena Kočović, the NEAQA director, professor Ana Šijački, president of the NEAQA’s Commission for accreditation and quality assurance (CAQA), and Aleksandar Jović, PhD, head of the NEAQA’s department for international affairs, projects and trainings. Representatives of the NEAQA presented to colleagues from Uzbekistan: the system of accreditation and quality assurance in Serbian higher education, the procedure of initial accreditation and obtaining a work permission in the case of the establishment of new higher education institutions, the procedure of accreditation of higher education institutions and study programmes, the procedure of external quality control of higher education institutions and the procedure of periodic self-evaluation of higher education institutions and study programmes. Also, the topics of the visit were: comparative analysis of quality assurance legal framework for higher education in two countries, comparison of procedures in quality assurance processes in two countries, the way of functioning, organization and financing of the NEAQA, compliance of Serbian standards for accreditation and external quality assurance with European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) for quality assurance in European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the appointment procedures and work of the peer-review panels in Serbia. During the meeting a number of possible topics for cooperation were presented and necessary activities were agreed, in line to prepare joint projects’ applications for future international public calls for projects. The Republic of Uzbekistan delegation was composed of the representatives of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan (MHSSE) and seven state higher education institutions from Uzbekistan: Tashkent State Agrarian University, Tashkent Institute of Architecture and Construction, Tashkent Chemical-Technological Institute, Tashkent Medical Academy, National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent Institute of Railway Transport Engineers and Tashkent State Technical University. The delegation was visiting Serbia from 9th to 12th of December 2019, as part of the World Bank-funded project “Modernizing Higher Education Project (MHEP)” and has been hosted by several higher education and research institutions in Belgrade and Novi Sad.