Quality assurance progress in the EHEA debated in Ljubljana
Between 17-19 November 2016, the 11th edition of the European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia. For the first time, the forum was organised by a student union, namely the Slovenian Student Union (SSU). The two-day event focused on providing a platform for discussion, professional development and exchange of experiences among the main stakeholders in quality assurance (QA).[1]
This year, Lea Meister and Blazhe Todorovski attended the event as speakers on behalf of the European Students’ Union. Two Executive Committee members, namely Aleksandar Šušnjar and Adam Gajek attended the meeting as participants.
Lea delivered an overview of the Bologna process for the year of 2016, where she described the current Bologna structures and the Bologna priorities, specially designed to respect diversity and ensure that the quality assurance (QA) criteria are met.
The primary issues, first presented at the Ministerial Conference in Yerevan (2015), are: enhancing the quality and relevance of learning; fostering the employability of graduates throughout their working lives; making the educational systems more inclusive and implementing agreed structural reforms.
Subsequently, Blazhe Todorovski held a joint presentation with EUA, ENQA, EURASHE and EQAR, addressing key considerations for cross-border quality-assurance on matters such as legal frameworks for quality assurance (QA) implementation and processes, the preparation needed for a successful cross-border quality assurance (QA) and the selection and training of peer-review experts.
The upcoming edition will take place between 23-25 nov 2017 -in Riga, Latvia. The event will be hosted by the student union of the university of Latvia with the support of university.
For more information about quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area, please consult the papers and presentations on the European University Association’s (ESA) website. Some of the papers of the meeting will be published in the EHEA Journal www.ehea-journal.eu
[1] www.eua.be
