Update on the Certificate for the Quality of Internationalisation (CeQuint)

Although the CeQuInt project just started, it has already received widespread publicity. Some are more supportive than others. Most observers look forward to hear more about what we are doing, which is great. And in the current project phase, everyone is explicitly invited to take part in our project by giving feedback on the draft methodology.
Current project phase: stakeholders' consultation methodology: Since the start of the project, the project partners have dedicated most of their work to establishing the CeQuInt assessment methodology. The partners have now produced a draft methodology to assess the quality of internationalisation. This methodology consists of three distinct documents: the assessment frameworks, the guidelines for applicants and the appeals procedure. All stakeholders and interested partners are asked to provide feedback through the consultation e-form available on the CeQuInt website.
Stakeholders Group Meeting: The Stakeholder Group will meet to discuss the draft methodology on 15 March 2013. This group consists of fifteen institutions from all over Europe and stakeholder organisations, such as the European Students Union, BusinessEurope, Nuffic, CHE Consult, DUO and DAAD. The Stakeholders Group is chaired by ACA's Bernd Wächter. The project consortium will test the developed methodology in pilot procedures. Each quality assurance agency in the consortium will therefore undertake one procedure. Since the last newsletter was sent out, programmes and institutions have been able to present themselves for one of these pilot procedures through the pilot-candidate-forms on our website. Although initially not planned, the project partners have decided to also include procedures at school-level. This can refer to a school, department or faculty with a limited number of programmes. These programmes, schools and institutions are now in the process of scheduling their procedure with one of the CeQuInt partners. In addition, these programmes, schools and institutions will be involved in the CeQuInt project in other ways too. They can take part in a good practices workshop, contribute to the newsletter, help finalise the methodology and participate in the CeQuInt conference.
Expert panels and training: The experts in the assessment panel play a crucial role in the evaluation of the quality of internationalisation. In addition to the regular expertise and experience, all panels will include experts that have an unquestionably international profile. Over the last months quality assurance agencies have proposed these experts and from that list, the CeQuInt partners are now composing a core group of twelve experts. These twelve experts will take part in several of the pilot procedures and help to improve consistency across all procedures. On 3 May 2013, all of them will be trained in audit techniques and intercultural competencies by AQ Austria.