A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya

78

July 2015

The 27-member Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (CEENQA) held its General Assembly and a related workshop on Impact of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 22-23 May 2015.

At the workshop, at which the results of the ENQA work group coordinated by AQU Catalunya on the impact of quality assurance were presented, various aspects came across clearly. Firstly, as regards recognition of the difficulty in quantitatively measuring the impact of QA procedures, the work group emphasised the need for discussion about the actual mission of QA agencies and the need for this to be formulated according to potential measurable impacts.

A second important aspect refers to the need for a rethink of QA processes so that efforts made in quality assurance, together with the outcomes, are optimised. Lastly, the issue of the multiple areas in which quality assurance has an impact and the stakeholders was addressed. The presence of external factors in QA procedures complicates measurement of their impact, and the recommendation was made to begin work on identifying the satisfaction of stakeholders directly involved in these procedures.