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Representatives of the Agency for Higher Education of the Republika Srpska participated in the first consultative meeting of the regional Working Group for the Recognition of Academic Qualifications within the Agreement on the Recognition of Academic Qualifications in the Western Balkans which was held on March 18, 2021. In addition to the representatives from the region and the Agency for Higher Education of the Republic of Srpska, as a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina delegation the meeting was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Scientific-Technological Development, Higher Education and Information Society of the Republic of Srpska and the Center for Information and Recognition of Documents in the Field of Higher Education of Bosnia and Herzegovina  

The meeting, which was of a preparatory nature for the next activities of the working group, discussed future activities related to the drafting of the Agreement on the Recognition of Academic Qualifications in the Western Balkans and adopted the rules and procedures of the Regional Working Group for Recognition of Academic Qualifications to carry out the planned activities before signing and ratifying the agreement.

The consultative meeting was organized by the Regional Cooperation Council, which is also the coordinator of activities within the process of reaching an agreement with the active participation of representatives of the European Commission.

On March 17, 2021, on behalf of the Agency for Higher Education of the Republic of Srpska, the Head of the Department for Quality Assurance and International Cooperation, Duska Radmanovic, participated in the thematic meeting of the International Network of Agencies for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (INQAAHE) on the occasion of marking the thirtieth anniversary of the global network of quality assurance agencies in higher education. The topic of the meeting were the effects of the work of the network so far, as well as the work of quality assurance agencies on improving standards in the field of higher education. The meeting also discussed the achievements so far in the field of assessment and quality assurance in higher education, as well as future steps in cooperation between agencies and higher education institutions necessary for further improvement of quality in the field of higher education.

Participants had the opportunity to hear introductory speeches by previous presidents of the network, who have been actively working for thirty years to adopt standards necessary to improve quality in higher education, as well as to hear their ideas and suggestions related to this area in the future.

Representatives of the Agency for Higher Education of the Republika Srpska, at the invitation of the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture, participated in meetings aimed at reaching an open discussion with representatives of the Statistical Offices of the Republika Srpska, FBiH and BiH and academia regarding the improvement of the quality, availability and timeliness of data in the field of higher education in relation to domestic and international needs. Meetings held in Banja Luka on March 16 and 17, 2021 opened the space for a broader and quality discussion where very important and concrete observations and proposals for improving statistical forms in higher education were presented, with an emphasis on timeliness, content of forms for data collection and data availability.

The presented proposals will serve statistical institutions in the development of a web application for data collection, which aims to facilitate the collection and availability of data. Revised statistical forms and web application will be in use from the next academic year.

The Agency for Higher Education of the Republic of Srpska has prepared a thematic analysis of online teaching in higher education during the extraordinary circumstances.

Since the current epidemiological measures do not recommend gathering a larger number of people, the Agency will present the results of the survey to the representatives of higher education institutions when the conditions for that are met.

In the meantime, the thematic analysis is available on the agency's website https://www.heaars.com/index.php/sr/ins-i-uci-vis-r-br-v-nj-r-publi-srps/tematske-analize.

The analysis included 146 study programs from 14 accredited higher education institutions. The agency prepared two questionnaires, one for academic staff and the other for students aimed at assessing the level of satisfaction with the quality of distance learning of key stakeholders.