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ENQA review of the accreditation and quality assurance practices in the Portuguese higher education (EPHE) (02. Feb. 2006)

ENQA participated in the overall assessment and quality review of the Portuguese higher education system together with OECD, EUA and EURASHE. The project was financed by the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES). ENQA reviewed the present accreditation and quality assurance practices in the Portuguese higher education. The exercise took place between December 2005 and November 2006.

In the framework of the EPHE project, ENQA reviewed the quality assurance and accreditation practices of the Portuguese quality assurance agency Conselho Nacional de Avaliação do Ensino Superior (CNAVES) as well as the related QA activities and procedures of institutions representing Portuguese higher education sub-systems: the Foundation of Portuguese Universities (FUP), the Portuguese Association of Polytechnic Institutes (ADISPOR) and the Portuguese Association of Private Higher Education (APESP). The review covered also major professional accreditation associations, for instance Technical Engineers', Lawyers' Professional Association and Architects' Professional Associations. The final review report concentrated on the strenghts and challenges of the Portuguese quality assurance system as well as gave recommendations for future developments. The review process followed the practice presented in the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (p. 36). The members of the review panel were:

• Christian Thune, former President of ENQA and Executive Director of the Danish Evaluation Institute (Chair);
• David Dill, Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Director of the Ford-Foundation funded Research Program on Public Policy for Academic Quality;
• Helmut Konrad, Professor of History at the University of Graz, former member of the ENQA Board and former President of the Austrian Accreditation Council;
• Gemma Rauret, Director of the Quality Assurance Agency for the University System in Catalonia;
• Anette Dørge Jessen, Senior Advisor, the Danish Evaluation Institute (Secretary).

For more information, please see:
Speech by Peter Williams, President of ENQA, on 21 November 2005 in Lisbon (pdf). The final review report presents the results of the panel's work focusing on the strengths and challenges of the Portuguese quality assurance system as well as giving recommendations for future developments. The report can be downloaded here (pdf). The response by CNAVES to the final review report can be found here (pdf).