On 22 May 2019 the Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education (SKVC) hosted an international conference of LIREQA project „Linking Academic Recognition and Quality Assurance“ as a final event of the project, co-financed by the European Commission. The conference was attended by more than 120 participants from 16 countries and also representatives of international organizations, including the European Commission.
In 2015, Ministers of education endorsed the revised text of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG), which contain a clear expectation under ESG 1.4 to align institutional recognition with the Lisbon Recognition Convention (LRC), and to foster cooperation to that end. Specifically, ESG 1.4 establishes that appropriate recognition procedures rely on institutional practice for recognition being in line with the principles of the Lisbon Recognition Convention and that HEIs cooperate with other institutions, quality assurance agencies and the national ENIC/NARIC centre with a view to ensuring coherent recognition across the country. However, linking internal and external quality assurance with recognition is still a challenge in the Bologna Process.
Recommendations, produced by LIREQA project consortium are meant to bridge this gap and are addressed to higher education institutions, quality assurance agencies, academic recognition centres, also the networks of stakeholders, proposing concrete measures what should be done to improve the situation. During the conference, the audience was reminded of strategic considerations regarding fair recognition for student mobility, and the role of internal and external quality assurance was discussed. Then, already existing tools were presented, including monitoring of LRC implementation by LRC Committee and national authorities, external reviews of quality assurance agencies by ENQA, peer reviews of ENIC/NARIC centres and tools for HEIs, including EAR-HEI Manual and others. A separate presentation was made on LIREQA recommendations and group discussions held around challenges in embedding those recommendations in national and institutional frameworks, but not only – some already existing good practices were featured as well.
During the conference representatives of the main stakeholder organizations – ESU, EUA, ENQA – addressed the audience, and members of ENIC/NARIC network as well as President of the Lisbon Recognition Convention Committee took part. The event was targeted at administration and academics within higher education institutions, responsible for quality assurance, international relations, admission and recognition, also students, public authorities, representatives of international organizations.
Presentations by speakers
- Recognition as a key to quality, access, and internationalization for students
Adam Gajek, President of European Student Union - Is development of quality assurance and quality culture panacea for everything?
Tia Loukkola, European University Association - Monitoring of implementation of the principles of the LRC as a tool to improve recognition
Gunnar Vaht, President of Lisbon Recognition Convention Committee - External review of QA agencies: addressing effectiveness of internal quality assurance by external quality assurance
Caty Duykaerts, Vice-President of ENQA - Peer review of ENIC/NARIC centres and tools for HEIs to improve recognition practices
Bas Wegewijs, Nuffic (Dutch ENIC/NARIC), The Netherlands - Recognition and Quality Assurance in Higher Education Institutions: Connecting the Dots
Aurelija Valeikienė, Deputy Director of SKVC
Recommendations
Integrating Academic Recognition and Quality Assurance: Practical Recommendations
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