The General Assembly and the thematic Workshop of CEENQA (Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education) were held on May 17-18, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani agency TKTA organized this event. NEAQA was represented by the Secretary-General Janko Balšić.
CEENQA is an organisation that brings together quality assurance agencies from Central and Eastern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. NEAQA has been a full member of CEENQA since 2020. As a full member, NEAQA has voting rights in CEENQA and actively participates in decision-making.
On the first day of the event, NEAQA’s Secretary-General attended a thematic Workshop dedicated to cross-border education and cooperation, trends and challenges in international accreditation and evaluation, examples of good practice in the recognition of foreign qualifications, strategic planning, and legal and political frameworks for cross-border recognition.
On the second day, the CEENQA General Assembly took place. During the assembly, the CEENQA Strategy from 2024 to 2030 and the financial report for the previous year were approved. Additionally, a vote was held to elect four new CEENQA Board members and the CEENQA President. Dr. sc. Vesna Dodiković-Jurković from the Croatian agency AZVO was elected as the new president of this organisation.
The entire event represented a suitable platform for exchanging knowledge and experience among CEENQA members and forming new partnerships and initiatives that will contribute to improving the quality of higher education in the region and beyond. The participants had the opportunity to discuss the challenges faced by higher education institutions in the CEENQA area. Particular emphasis was placed on the importance of harmonising quality standards and qualification recognition procedures to facilitate the mobility of students and members of the academic community.