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External evaluation and accreditation of degree programmes is one means of quality assurance that is widely accepted internationally. While in most cases the focus on external quality assurance is a national one, several pan-European networks have been implemented in the past few years that are intending to support the Bologna process from a truly European point of view.

These networks aim at improving the quality of degree programmes in their specific, subject-related field of activity and, at the same time, at fostering the mobility of graduates. The European Quality Assurance Network for Informatics Education (EQANIE) and the European Network for the Accreditation of Engineering Education (ENAEE) are two potent examples of these networks. Both have created quality labels that ascertain the achievement of the above mentioned aims.

A workshop will explore how pan-European accreditation networks, more specifically in Engineering and in Informatics, can help improving the quality of teaching and learning on national levels. An additional focus will lie on the involvement of stakeholders such as employers and students in the procedures as well as on the requirements, criteria and course of an international accreditation.

Workshop on international accreditation in the Baltic states
Date: May 20, 2010
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Link: www.asiin.de/deutsch/download/ASIIN_Workshop_Programme_International_Accreditation_Baltics_2010-04-15.pdf

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The Database of Consultants has been launched on the following webpage:  http://www.apqn.org/services/consultantsdb/

With the Global Initiative for Quality Assurance Capacity (GIQAC) support, the Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN) has cooperated with INQAAHE to develop the Database. The working group and review committee are composed by international experts recommended by APQN and INQAAHE.

The Database lists people with expertise in Quality Assurance in Higher Education who have expressed their willingness to provide advice. Different Consultants are competent to advice on different and specific matters of interest to agencies, such as agency structure, evaluation processes, and assessor training and institution liaison and so on. The search facility can be used to identify the consultants or reviewers by keyword, specialization (including general QA, institutional QA, internal QA, and program review), agency affiliation, gender and country.