Effective involvement of stakeholders in external quality assurance activities (ESQA)
ESU is currently involved as a partner in the project “Effective involvement of stakeholders in external quality assurance activities” (ESQA) led by the Romanian Ministry of National Education. The project is funded by the Erasmus+ programme Key Action 3 – Support to Policy Reform.
Project Duration
1 May 2019 – 30 April 2021 (24 months)
Background
The project is framed by the 2012 Bucharest ministerial communiqué which stated: “We commit to both maintaining the public responsibility for quality assurance and to actively involve a wide range of stakeholders in this development.” In the 2018 Paris Communiqué, the ministers of education stated that “fulfilling our commitments depends on the concerted efforts of national policy-makers, public authorities, institutions, staff, students and other stakeholders as well as coordination at EHEA level.”
The Bologna Implementation Report concludes: “there is still improvement to be made to meet the Bologna Process commitment to full student engagement. [Concerning employers, in 19 out of 48 countries,] there are no formal requirements with regard to the involvement of employers.”
In addition, the Thematic Peer Group C on Quality Assurance (TPG C on QA) of BFUG identified the theme “Role and engagement of stakeholders in internal and external quality assurance” as one in which work is further needed.
Objectives and project activities
The ESQA project aims to support the activity of the Peer Group C on stakeholders’ involvement in external quality assurance (EQA). It will explore various categories of stakeholder engagement and expectations stakeholders have towards EQA with the aim to make this engagement effective and diversified. Recommendations will be provided to the national authorities and QA agencies in terms of stakeholders’ involvement, regarding ways to strengthen dialogue and cooperation, as well for their effective involvement in QA processes. A Study and a Guideline on stakeholders’ involvement will be developed, and respectively peer-learning activities will be organised with the participation of the TPG C on QA members.
Consortium
The consortium is led by the Romanian Ministry of National Education and includes five QA agencies (the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, ARACIS; the High Council for the evaluation of Research and Higher education, Hcéres; the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency, NEAA; the Danish Accreditation Institution, AI; and the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education and Research, ANACEC; as well as European stakeholder organisations representing QA agencies (the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, ENQA), HEIs (the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education, EURASHE) and students (the European Students’ Union, ESU).
Discover more about the project on:
ESQA Website ➡️
