Director of the Higher Education Accreditation Agency of Republic of Srpska attended at the 30th session of the Rector's Conference of the Republic of Srpska (RKRS).
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Lejla Vasic, master degree student in Industrial Engineering at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Banja Luka, shared her positive experiences during her two-day visit to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, as a member of expert panel appointed by the German Accreditation Agency (ASIIN). After this engagement, she ha, especially emphasized that this experience and new acquaintances she has made will greatly contribute her further business career.
Her engagement came after the German Accreditation Agency (ASIIN) contacted the Higher Education Accreditation Agency of Republic of Srpska to nominate one student for a member of the panel in the process of accreditation of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Belgrade.
Higher Education Accreditation Agency of the Republic of Srpska (the Agency) is preparing thematic analysis on internationalization in higher education as a result of previous analyzes of the reports and recommendations of experts in the first cycle of accreditation in the Republic of Srpska.
As is well known, the Agency is an associate member of European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and in the process of preparing for full membership which implies proving the compliance of the Agency's work, as well as the overall higher education system, with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in European Higher Education Area (ESG). One of the requirements of the standards is the preparation of thematic analyzes in the field of the Agency's activities.
The Agency is participating in the project "Strengthening Internationalization in Higher Education" (STINT project) in the framework of the ERASMUS + program of the European Union, which is in the final stage. Within the project Agency analyzed the accreditation results in the first round which unambiguously indicated that internationalization is one of the weakest points of the system higher education in the Republic of Srpska. The criterion that largely covered these issues ("international cooperation") had the lowest average grade, and at the same time, with all the institutions that received a letter of expectation, this criterion was always among the under-rated ones. On this basis, the Agency decided that a second thematic analysis should tackle the causes of the obstacles in this area.
Director of the Higher Education Accreditation Agency of Republika Srpska along with associates from the Agency, held a meeting on 5th December 2018 with vice-rectors of the University of Banja Luka, professor Biljana Antunovic Ph.D. and professor Strain Posavljak Ph.D., and Vice-Rector of the University of East Sarajevo, professor Dejan Bokonjić, Ph.D.
Vice-rectors were informed about the current activities in the (re)accreditation process with special emphasis on the review of the study programs for the purpose of (re)accreditation of the institution and study programs. It was a pleasure to emphasise that most of the activities have been completed, but at the same time there is a concern about the continuation of obstruction by the Agency for the Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance in BiH. In this regard, the agreed position is to discuss this issue at the next session of the Rectors' Conference of BiH, with the purpose of ceasing obstructions in the process of appointment of external evaluation panels. The topic of discussion was also the eligibility of universities’ participation in ERASMUS + projects and the need to inform the Education, Audio-visual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) on the status of accreditation of higher education institutions.
As initiated by the Higher Education Accreditation Agency of Republic of Srpska (Agency), there was a meeting held in the Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE) on 5th September, 2018 addressing current issues and dilemmas with reference to the recognition of higher education diplomas from Republic of Srpska, accreditation in higher education and general possibilities of cooperation between two agencies.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Higher Education Accreditation Agency of Republic of Srpska: Acting Director Biljana Vojvodic, PhD and the Head of Accreditation Department, Jugoslav Vuk Tepic, PhD; representatives of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republic of Srpska: Assistant Minister for higher education, Radmila Pejic, PhD and the Secretary of the Republic of Srpska Commission for Information and Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications, Jelena Starcevic, PhD. The meeting was held in a pleasant atmosphere and hosted by: ASHE Director, Jasmina Havranek, PhD, Deputy Director Vesna Dodikovic Jurkovic, PhD and representatives of accreditation sector and ENIC/NARIC centre of Croatia. After the general introduction of both agencies' work, the conversation was directed towards experiences gained after completed processes of accreditation, measures of improvement as well as possibilities of more specific cooperation in the area of external quality assurance.
