Register now includes 37 agencies from 18 countries
The Register Committee convened in Rome on 28 and 29 November and admitted the following four new agencies to the Register:

• A3ES - Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (Portugal)
• AQ Austria - Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria
• CAQA - Commission for Accreditation and Quality Assurance (Serbia)
• Unibasq - Agency for Quality of the Basque University System (Spain)

The Register Committee also decided to renew the registration of another four agencies:

• AAC-DEVA - Andalusian Agency of Knowledge, Department of Evaluation and Accreditation (Spain)
• ACSUG - Agency for Quality Assurance in the Galician University System (Spain)
• CTI - Engineering Degree Commission (France)
• IEP - Institutional Evaluation Programme

These agencies have demonstrated their substantial compliance with the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) through an independent external review. More...

EUA’s Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP) is pleased to announce that its application to renew its inclusion in the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) has been successful. IEP will now be listed on the EQAR until 2019.
Established in 2008 in the context of the Bologna Process reforms, the Register aims to provide clear and reliable information about quality assurance agencies that operate in Europe.
To find out more about the Register please visit: www.eqar.euTo find out more about the IEP Programme please visit: www.eua.be/iep. More...

Higher Education Policy Branch has been working with our colleagues in England to agree on future developments with in the Higher Education quality assurance system.
Consultation on the future of the quality assurance method
A key part of this work involves the development of a new institutional audit method to apply from 2011-12. This is being taken forward by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL NI), Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE), Universities UK (UUK) and Guild HE, but the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Association of Colleges and NUS are also closely involved. These organisations published a consultation on the future of the quality assurance method , which ran from December 2009 to March 2010.
briefing from HEFCE, DEL (NI), UUK and GuildHE. More...

This page sets out summary data about each unit of assessment and analysis of the 2014 REF results as a whole.
General analysis
Analysis of the 2014 REF results and submissions at main panel and UK sector level:

• Submissions data
• Environment data
• Sector and main panel average results
• Comparison with 2008 RAE results
• Consistency across UOAs
• Outputs profiles and diversity
• Research income trends
• Institutional average results
• Institutional share of quality and volume. More...

The REF is the new system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. It replaced the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), last conducted in 2008.
The 2014 REF was conducted jointly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and the Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland (DEL). The REF was managed by the REF team, based at HEFCE, on behalf of the four UK higher education funding bodies, and was overseen by the REF Steering Group, consisting of representatives of the four funding bodies.
The primary purpose of REF 2014 was to assess the quality of research and produce outcomes for each submission made by institutions:

• The four higher education funding bodies will use the assessment outcomes to inform the selective allocation of their grant for research to the institutions which they fund, with effect from 2015-16.
• The assessment provides accountability for public investment in research and produces evidence of the benefits of this investment.
• The assessment outcomes provide benchmarking information and establish reputational yardsticks, for use within the higher education (HE) sector and for public information.

The REF was developed through evaluations of the 2008 RAE, pilot exercises and consultations with the sector. Further information about the development of the 2014 REF can be found in the background section. More...

The third panel debate of the conference asked how equality in education in the digital era could be increased through opening up access and lowering costs. More...

In our previous blog post, we have briefly described the current quality assurance in the European educational landscape.  Furthermore, we have addressed a number of critical questions connected to quality of digital education, inviting all of you to participate in the online pre-conference debate about the future of education in the digital era. More...

The EC and the Italian Presidency of the EU are hosting a high level conference on Education in the Digital Era on December 11th. The pre-conference dialog has already begun on various online platforms and you are all welcome to participate. The main topic of discussion is quality and relevance in learning. More...

It is important to consider Quality Assurance at all levels and dimensions of the Educational system:
1) Government or Organization that provides the educational policy, educational model, administration, laws, planning, funding etc.
2) School or E-Platform that provides the environment, infrastructure, services, organization, operation, supportimg staff etc.
3) Academic Programme or Curriculum that dscribes the structure/organization of the curriculum.
4) Course Syllabus that describes the objectives, content and organization of the course, assessment type, grading policy etc.
5) Educational Material that provides the reading/assignments material, experiments, labs, exercices, etc.
6) Teacher who provides teaching, mentoring, guidance etc.
7) Student who learns, develops skills, etc. More...

La qualité des actions de la formation professionnelle continue est un des éléments important de la loi du 5 mars 2014 relative à la formation professionnelle, à l’emploi et à la démocratie sociale. En effet les financeurs d’actions de formation (Etat, OPCA, régions, Pôle emploi, Agefiph) devront s’assurer de la capacité du prestataire de formation à dispenser une formation de qualité dès lors qu’ils financent une action de formation.  Un décret en conseil d’Etat prévoit de fixer les critères permettant d’évaluer cette capacité. Un projet de décret est en cours.
Pour en savoir plus, consulter le projet de décret sur la qualité (format pdf). Voir l'article...