The SEQA-ESG 2 project introductory video is available here.
The SEQA-ESG 2 project introductory video is available here.
The 2020 Rome Ministerial Communiqué pledged to remove remaining obstacles for countries striving to reach compliance with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA (the ESG).
In Europe several countries do not yet have an independent QA agency and/or the agency is not yet in compliance with the ESG regarding all elements of its operations. In order to be fully successful in their work, agencies need an enabling legal framework and the support of national authorities.
Therefore, in order to achieve the objectives of the Rome Communiqué, and of the Bologna Process more widely, it is necessary to provide targeted and specific support to countries in order to establish ESG-compliant QA agencies, including ESG-compliant criteria and methods for the external QA of institutions and/or programmes.
The SEQA-ESG project (2020-2022) has successfully supported six different QA systems in Albania, Czech Republic, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, and Slovakia to take significant steps towards ESG compliance.
This new project will build on the success of the SEQA-ESG 1 to provide such in-depth, targeted peer support to a further four countries that have already established a quality assurance agency. SEQA-ESG II is supporting Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Ukraine, all EHEA members outside the EU facing similar issues and challenges related to external QA.
The five agencies included in the project, currently ENQA affiliates, do not yet have operations fully aligned with the ESG and need support to reach ESG compliance.
Specifically, the project’s objectives are to achieve:
1. The establishment of legal frameworks in line with the ESG;
2. The alignment of the methodology and processes used in each of the countries to the peer-review method described in the ESG;
3. A connection of national/agency criteria with Part 1 of the ESG;
4. The creation of appropriate methods and criteria for the recruitment, selection, and training of peer review experts, including addressing issues of impartiality and independence of experts;
5. Adequate stakeholder involvement in external quality assurance.
To reach the objectives, the following four activities are implemented to address different needs appropriately, both at the legal framework level as well as within the agencies, and ensure that the four countries make fast progress in achieving ESG compliance.
• Peer counselling visits in the four countries, gathering national authorities, the agency and key stakeholders. The key outcome of the activity will be a national action plan for QA development.
• Peer support workshops on four key themes (QA methodology, QA criteria, review experts and stakeholders). The workshops target all core partners from the four countries.
• Staff exchanges between the 5 partner agencies, and
• Creation of agency action plans for a review against the ESG (five in total).
ENQA’s role in this project is that of a coordinator and an expert body.
ENQA – European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (coordinator)
AHERS – Agency for Higher Education of Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
HEA – Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
NAQA – National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance, Ukraine
NEAQA – National Entity for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education, Serbia
TKTA – Education Quality Assurance Agency, Azerbaijan
Call: ERASMUS-EDU-2021-EHEA-IBA “European Higher Education Area (EHEA) – Initiative to support the implementation of reforms”. This call was exclusively addressed at the Ministries of Education and Research of countries participating in Erasmus+ and the consultative members of the Bologna Process.
Duration: 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2025 (36 months)
For further information, please contact Alexis Fábregas Almirall or Goran Dakovic.