Actueel

Active membership of international networks in accreditation and quality assurance

NVAO is an active member of three international networks of accreditation and quality assurance organisations:

• International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE)
• European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education
  (ENQA)
• European Consortium for Accreditation in higher education (ECA).

International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE)

INQAAHE is a worldwide organisation for quality assurance agencies. INQAAHE was established in 1991. Nowadays it has more then 200 membets. The main purpose of the Network is to collect and disseminate information on current and developing theory and practice in the assessment, improvement and maintenance of quality in higher education. In 2006 NVAO organised the two-yearly INQAAHE workshop in The Hague. Almost 100 participants from more than 40 countries were present at this three days’ workshop.

From June 1 2008 NVAO provides the secretariat for INQAAHE.
The team that within NVAO in particular will work for INQAAHE
consists of three persons: Leendert Klaassen, member of the
Executive Board of NVAO, is appointed Secretary of the Board of
INQAAHE; Mark Frederiks, policy advisor international affairs, will
act as Administrator of INQAAHE; Esther van den Heuvel is
charged with various support activities, particularly in maintaining
the website and developing contacts with INQAAHE members.

European Association for Quality Assurance in higher education (ENQA)

Members of ENQA are quality assurance agencies from countries party to the Bologna process. NVAO participates in the annual General Assembly and as a rule is always present at ENQA Workshops. In the last few years NVAO has participated in the Transnational European Evaluation Project II (TEEP II) and organised the meeting of the General Assembly of 2006 in Brussels. One of NVAO’s Executive Board members is also an ENQA board member.

European Consortium for Accreditation in higher education (ECA)

The ECA network consists of fifteen accreditation organisations from ten European countries and regions.
NVAO participates in every plenary ECA Workshop (twice a year) and plays an active role in the four working groups of ECA, chairing two of them. Additionally, NVAO coordinates the ECA secretariat and organised the bi-annual Workshop in the spring of 2006 in Bruges. One of NVAO’s Executive Board members is also member of ECA’s Management Group.

In 2006, the TEAM project was started as a separate project under the wings of ECA. TEAM stands for Transparent European Accreditation decisions and Mutual Recognition Agreements. The project is financed by the European Commission, but is coordinated by NVAO. In addition to four publications on mutual recognition of accreditation decisions, an ECA conference was organized to convince European stakeholders of the importance of mutual recognition. This conference took place on 10 and 11 December 2007 in Barcelona, Spain. Twelve mutual recognition agreements and four letter of intents were signed.
The most important objective of the TEAM project was the development of an online European information tool for students, recognition bodies, higher education institutions and employers in which they can look up which institutions and programmes have been accredited within Europe.
This resulted in Qrossroads

Another recent development was the signing of a second Agreement of Cooperation. The first Agreement of Cooperation was signed by 12 accreditation organisations in Córdoba in November 2003. These signatures mark the formal establishment of the Consortium.At the end of 2007 it was decided that a new Agreement of Cooperation would be signed in June 2008. Both existing members and new members could join the renewed ECA. As a consequence, a new Agreement of Cooperation was signed by 13 accreditation organisations from 10 European countries in Kraków on 5 June 2008. NVAO chairman Karl Dittrich was also appointed vice chairman of ECA.
Besides the mutual recognition of accreditation and quality assurance decisions the agreement also aims at providing information about accrediation decisions, sharing good practices and collaborating on the internationalisation of institutions.