On 6–7th of September representatives of the Center for Quality Assessment in Higher Education (SKVC) participated in the meeting of the quality agencies of the Nordic and Baltic countries. The meeting was organized by the Finnish Quality Agency (FINEEC) and took place in Porvoo, Finland. The Baltic agencies are invited to these meetings every two years.
The topics of this year's meeting were the assessment of research quality systems and research-oriented studies. Presentations were made by Mr Sigurður Óli Sigurðsson, Head of the Icelandic Higher Education Quality Board; dr Camilla Østerberg Rump, Assistant Professor at Copenhagen University, Professor Timo Aarrevaara from the University of Lapland, and Mr Matti Kajaste, Education Advisor at the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. Representatives of quality agencies discussed these topics in more detail later in the parallel workshops.
During the meeting, the links between research and studies were analyzed using the M. Healey & A. Jenkins model, which distinguished four main forms of the relationship between research and studies: research-tutored, research-led, research-oriented, research-based.
During the meeting, representatives of the agencies of the Baltic and Nordic countries introduced to changes in their respective quality assurance systems. For the first time in such a meeting a representative from Greenland, which also plans to establish their own quality assurance agency, took part. Ms Aurelija Valeikienė, Deputy Director of the Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education, presented the situation in the Lithuanian higher education quality assurance system.
