On June 26, 2021, a conference with international participation "Quality assurance of higher education in Russia in the new decade" took place

On June 26, 2021, a conference with international participation was held

June 26, 2021 a conference with international participation "Quality assurance of higher education in Russia in the new decade" was hosted by the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Berbekov (KBSU).

The issues of quality assurance and variety of HE forms, models of external assessment of HE in different countries, assurance of their comparability, as well as the experience of undergoing external quality assessment by Russian Universities were discussed at the event.

The conference was opened with welcoming speeches by KBSU’s rector and NAA’s Deputy Director-Director of the branch.

The conference program was divided into several sessions on topical issues in the field of education.

The representatives of the Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating, IAAR (the Republic of Kazakhstan), the Independent Agency for Quality Assurance in Education, IQAA (the Republic of Kazakhstan), the Department for Quality Control of Education of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, the State Inspectorate on Supervision of Education Quality under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation, FIBAA (Germany) took part in the first session, dedicated to models of external quality assurance of HE. The session was moderated by Lemka Izmaylova, NAA’s Director. During the session, a productive discussion took place among the conference participants on the issues related to quality assurance in HE.

The second session was under the name “Undertaking the procedure for recognizing the level of activity of an educational organization by the criteria and requirements of international organizations by Russian universities. Legal mechanisms for the recognition of foreign qualifications”. The representatives of the National Centre for Professional Education Quality Assurance Foundation, ANQA (Armenia), Main State Center for Education Evaluation, leading universities of the Russian Federation participated in the event. Tatiana Bibik, NAA’s Deputy Director, took part in the section as a moderator. The session participants discussed in detail the problems of new forms of HE, which should be compatible with national qualifications systems, comply with the same quality assurance requirements and be detailed in terms of learning outcomes.

The third session was devoted to the peculiarities of external experts’ activity. Denis Shabanov, NAA’s Head of the Information Support and Event Management Department, acted as a moderator. The Rosobrnadzor’s experts and the representatives of leading universities of the Russian Federation spoke to the participants. The external experts’ activity plays an important role in the assessment and constant updating of study programs, taking into account national systems. The role of an external expert is key and functionally significant in the system of quality control of HE. During the event, the conference participants asked the speakers a number of questions concerning the specifics of organizing an external expert’s work.

Summing up the conference results, the participants came to the conclusion that quality assurance is a source of mutual trust between the countries in terms of recognition of HE qualifications and noted the importance of using existing means of transparency and comparability between the countries. Recognition mechanisms based on quality assurance and system harmonization make a significant contribution to supporting student mobility, recognizing learning outcomes obtained in different ways, and fostering knowledge exchange, cultural competence and global awareness.

National Accreditation Agency thanks the participants for their interest in the conference, and invites HEIs to take part in the planned events in the future!