Representatives of the higher education institutions from Banja Luka-University of Business Engineering and Management, Independent University, University of Business Studies and Banja Luka College, signed, with the Higher education Accreditation Agency, contracts for conducting the accreditation process on 11th July, 2012, in the premises of Higher Education Agency of Republic of Srpska.
The contract signing event was attended by the Minister of Education and Culture, Anton Kasipovic, who stated: "This is the significant event for the Republic of Srpska academia since it affirms the Republic of Srpska policy on higher education to keep this area competencies within the Republic. As for the relevant Ministry, parallel to accreditation, it is important to create condition for working on ranking study programs, since it will be reliable indicator to future students when deciding what and where to study."
Acting director of the Higher Education Accreditation Agency, Miroslav Bobrek, PhD said that the following step for the institutions that signed the contract today is process of external evaluation, meaning that the relevant commissions shall visit higher education institutions, examine all materials necessary for accreditation and evaluate concordance with European standards. Thus, Republic of Srpska entered the third out of four phases of the entire accreditation process, and before the end of this year we can expect to have the first accredited higher education institutions in the Republic of Srpska. "Accreditation is the first, the most important segment in the process of diploma recognition. In the first step of diploma recognition, European institutions, employers, higher education institutions, make an insight in the registry of accredited higher education institution", Bobrek emphasised.
Accreditation, i.e. quality assurance process, is envisaged by the Bologna declaration that BiH signed in 2003 and is applied in the Republic of Srpska since 2006.