Improving University Quality Assurance Resilient Strategies Toward Excellence

ended

QA-SURE is a project that will focus on adapting modern and European quality assurance practices, instruments, methodologies, and thus aid the alignment of quality assurance standards of the project partners with those set out via the ESGs 2015 and European best practices. This will be achieved by: (1) Realignment of QA structures and mechanisms based on policy and regulations, QA cycles, and other institutional indicators, and widening of input into the systems by higher participation rates of students and external stakeholders, (2) Training of QA, administrative and academic staff (>150) , as well as, students (>50), to ensure better preparation and inclusiveness of administrative and academic products within the partner HEIs, especially when it comes to service and study product design, and (3) utilizing internationalization and digitalization as mechanisms for enhancing quality culture, while at the same time improving institutional transparency and accountability. The project foresees the participation of larger variety of participants into the QA systems as current Western Balkans HEIs struggle with this. More emphasis will be laid out for the input and participation of (1) students since often students find themselves placed only at the end of the quality assurance cycles as means to close it rather than considering them as productive sources of primary feedback and data, and, (2) external stakeholders (businesses, public institutions, civil society etc), due to the high relevance of input that can be received for updating of study programmes aiming to be based on the fit-for-purpose concept and employment. All of these processes apart from the increase in quality culture practices and mechanisms, will also enable the HEIs to prepare for international accreditation procedures as a tool to further improve themselves within the European perspective.