About the project

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The project “Quality Assurance System in Ukraine: Development on the Base of ENQA Standards and Guidelines” (QUAERE) is supported by ERASMUS+ Programme (Key Action 2 – Capacity building in the Field of Higher Education).

The team of the project consists of 13 universities from Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Greece, the Netherlands, as well as the German independent agency for external evaluation and accreditation (ASIIN), Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (CEENQA), Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Educational and Methodical Centre on QA and Ukrainian Association of Student Self-Government.

QUAERE is aimed at contribution to current reform of Ukrainian system of QA in higher education. The consortium plans to solve the following problems and needs that are crucial for the partner country both at national and institutional levels:

•    Need in tools ensuring effective functioning of internal and external QA systems

•    Need in capacity building of HEIs and national QA body through training of staff to use QA tools, establishment of organizational QA infrastructure and piloting internal and external QA models

•    Low level of student involvement in university self-assessment processes

•    Need to make the self-assessment mechanism an integral part of university functioning

With a new Law on Higher Education of Ukraine that came into force in September 2014 system of QA in higher education finally obtained general shape, envisaged activities and prospects for National Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (operation planned from the end of 2015) and later – independent QA agencies. Despite being innovative and enormously relative, new legislation has set strict frame for reformation of HE sector without possibilities for retroaction. In such conditions both national body for QA and HEIs are above all in desperate need for capacity building and practical developments.

In order to provide sustainable solutions to the problems and needs of the reforming process in higher education of Ukraine the project consortium aims at producing the outcomes and outputs that will facilitate: at preparation stage  – analytical background for mapping existing QA system to new legal frame and EU best practices; at development stage – capacity building of national QA body and HEIs as well as main developments from general guidelines to practical mechanisms and tools; at exploitation stage – piloting developed models and tools both at HEI (institutional and AP self-assessment) and national (external evaluation) levels.

Duration of project is two years. It has a budget of 717 000 €.