News

The Head of Quality Assurance and International Cooperation Department, Duška Radmanović, attended on July 15. session of the Executive Board of the Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (CEENQA) as a member of the Board.

Executive Board held a session two days before the start of the CEENQA General Assembly 2020, which, due to the declaration of a coronary virus pandemic in almost all member countries, is being held this year via the internet platform for meetings on Friday, July 17, 2020.

During the session, the Executive Board considered the applications fоr the membership in the network received in the previous period, the agenda of the forthcoming General Assembly, as well as the technical details regarding the preparation of the first online Assembly.

The Executive Board also discussed possible topics and the selection of hosts to hold the network’s General Assembly in 2021.

Radmanović has been a member of the CEENQA Executive Board since April 2017 and has also served as vice president of the network.

European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) this week organized the webinar on the topic of quality assurance agenicies conduct in extraordinary situation related to COVID-19 pandemic.

The webinar was introduced by following speakers:

• Maria Kelo, Director, ENQA
• Peter Mall, Scientific Advisor, Evalag (Germany)
• Esther Huertas Hidalgo, Head of Quality Assurance, AQU Catalunya (Spain)
• Elena Cirlan, Policy & Project Officer, IEP (Switzerland)
• Alastair Delaney, Director for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, QAA (UK)

Head of Quality Assurance and International Cooperation Department Duska Radmanovic was a participant in webinar.

Following the introduction of lockdown measures related to COVID-19, quality assurance agencies are in a search of solutions to deliver site visits. This webinar explored conditions and criteria related to the online implementation of site visits and what challenges EQA is facing in this regard. The webinar also included a presentation of a few case studies from ENQA member agencies.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska adopted on June 26, 2020. Proposal of the Law on Quality Assurance in Higher Education of the Republic of Srpska. This is a pioneering law that is being passed for the first time in Srpska, and this area has so far been regulated by the Law on Higher Education. The draft law envisages significant changes regarding the competencies of the Higher Accreditation Accreditation Agency, which grows into the Agency for Higher Education, and acquires competencies in the field of initial accreditation, part of the external evaluation procedure preceding the issuance of work permits and other forms of external quality evaluation of higher education institutions and study programs. The law is expected to enter into force soon, which will provide the preconditions for its implementation.

Representatives of the Higher Education Accreditation Agency of The Republic of Srpska participated in the work of the webinar with the topic "How the Covid-19 has changed our Universities for good". Participants from all over the world were given the opportunity to exchange experiences and opinions on how the corona virus pandemic has affected everyday university life. During the event, participants had the opportunity to hear introductory speeches and various experiences related to distance learning, as well as to detect during the discussion various problems encountered by representatives of the academic community around the world.

Also, on the framework of the mentioned discussion, opinions were exchanged on how the academic community will function in the future, what challenges await us and what are the recommendations regarding the further development of the situation. This webinar is just one in a series of discussions planned on this topic, and in the coming period it is expected that this type of exchange of experiences will continue with the aim of improving the quality of teaching in higher education.

The organizer of the webinar is the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL).