NEAQA’s Secretary-General Janko Balšić took part in the ENQA Members’ Forum in Tbilisi, Georgia (QA in the EHEA: linking policy and practice) from April 19 to 21, 2023. The Forum was hosted by the Georgian national agency National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement (NCEQE).
The Forum presented the results of the QA Fit for the Future survey conducted by ENQA at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 as part of the QA-FIT project, in which 76 European agencies from 49 countries (including NEAQA) participated. In the survey, the agencies answered questions about the quality assurance activities they carry out, where the emphasis was placed on ESG standards (Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area, 2015) and the necessity of their revision. After extensive discussion, it was concluded that ENQA should conduct more detailed analyzes and pay attention to the contradictory conclusions drawn from the survey results.
As part of the Breakout sessions section, our Secretary-General participated in a seminar called Digital Transformation and Enhancement of QA Procedures, where our colleagues from a Slovenian agency (NAKVIS, SQAA) presented the design and improvement of internal information systems that have the potential to increase efficiency, make better use of data and analytics, and support communication with stakeholders, which led to the improvement of existing QA procedures in this agency. It was noted that examples of good practices of NAKVIS (SQAA) regarding IT and analytics in the field of QA are among the best in Europe.
Stakeholders representatives from the EHEA (EUA, ESU, EURASHE, EQAR) set out the results of the parallel QA-FIT mapping conducted among HEIs, students and governments, and highlighted areas of convergence and divergence. ENQA’s contribution to the Bologna process was also highlighted, the key issues of which will be addressed at the next ministerial conference to be held in Tirana at the beginning of 2024.
ENQA General Assembly was held on the second day of the Forum, where the ENQA full members voted on the election of a new member of the ENQA Board and a new treasurer, as well as on the adoption of the financial report. Also, thematic poster sessions were organized, where ENQA members and affiliates shared their individual practices in strengthening the enhancement aspect of external QA and going beyond the ESG.
