WORKSHOP:
IMPLEMENTING A SUSTAINABLE NATIONAL
QUALIFICATIONS
FRAMEWORK IN KOSOVO
TURIN, 17 - 18 MAY 2011
QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN
KOSOVO
Dr.Ferdije Zhushi Etemi
Kosovo Accreditation Agency
Some statistical data on HE in Kosovo
2.2 million
inhabitants
Average age of population:
24 years, the youngest
population in Europe
Each year about 25.000 students
complete secondary education
about 20.000 intends to continue
their education in HEI
Currently the inclusion in HE is about
25 %, which is still low in comparison
with other European countries
ORGANIZATION OF HE SECTOR
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3 public Universities
17 private providers of HE
10 colleges
3 institutes
5 HE professional schools
AUK0- the only private non profit university One branch
of a foreign university (FEUL-SL)
Types of HEI in Republic of Kosovo
10
10
9
8
7
5
6
5
3
4
3
3
2
1
0
Universities
colleges
institutes
HPSCH
Number of students in public sector of HE
58253
60000
46753
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
10000
1500
0
University of Prishtina
University of Mitrovica
University of Prizren
total
Number of students i Private HEI
(20183)
6000
5465
5000
4875
4000
3060
3000
2000
1445
1034
1000
783
595
764
639
357
386
63
0
20
141
154
337
24
31
Total number of students in Republic of Kosovo
78436
80000
58253
70000
60000
50000
40000
20183
30000
20000
10000
0
Public HEI
private HEI
total
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78436
AUK about 700 students
FEUL-22 students
In total 79.158 students
Legislation
• Law on Higher education in Republic of Kosovo (2003/14)
• AI for Establishing the Kosovo Accreditation Agency
(2004)
• AI for Licensing PrBHE (2004)
• AI for Accreditation of HE in Kosovo(2009/1)
• AI for accreditation of High professional and Technical
schools
(2010)
• University and college statutes
Main activities in HE sector
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the establishment of QA system and the QA framework
• Kosovo Accreditation Agency
• Compliance of the QA system with ESG-ENQA
• Establishment of NQF
Fundamental changes in the educational system in Kosovo
in last 11 years
• Reconstruction of the education system in the country
after the conflict in 1999
• Introduction of the Bologna reforms
• The increase of the number of students and HE
providers
• The establishment and increase of the number of Private
providers of HE
• The delegation of the quality assurance responsibilities
to National agency for QA-Kosovo Accreditation Agency,
and HEI
• What is Quality Assurance?
• Defined in higher education as systematic management and
assessment procedures adopted by a higher education institution or
system to monitor performance and to ensure achievement of
quality outputs or improved quality - Harman and Meek (2000).
Internal QA system
• Internal QA system-responsibility of the HEI itself
• To ensure students and stakeholders that HEI :
-operates with appropriate academic standards;
-offers students learning opportunities of a good quality
External QA system
Kosovo Accreditation agency
Kosovo Accreditation Agency is a public agency responsible for the
evaluation of quality at public and private institutions of higher
education in Kosovo.
It is founded by MEST in 2008 in accordance with the Law on Higher
Education - LHE (2003/14) in Kosovo, as an Agency that practices
independent professional activities which at the Institutions of Higher
Education (IHE) in Kosovo guarantees quality of educational and
scientific work.
• Establishment and development of KAA was supported by Austrian
government (KAIP project)
• Contacts and cooperation with three Austrian bodies for QA and
accreditation (AQA,ӦAR, FHR) and BAC
Mission
• Through the accreditation process KAA supports
development of the quality in HE institutions and in the
same time assures the Kosovo society that the quality of
teaching and learning is at the level of international
standards.
• KAA’s primary responsibilities are:
• Accreditation and re-accreditation of public and private
institutions of higher education and their study programs
• Constant control of quality at the accredited institutions
and their study programs
• Inform public about the quality of HE institutions and their
study programs
Aims
• to promote, improve and develop the quality of the
higher education sector
• to create transparency and comparability in the interest
of providers, students and the labour market
• Integrate Kosovo higher education in EHEA
Structure
• KAA consists from a professional-decision-making body National Council of Quality which has 6 local and 3
international members (USA, Austria and UK)
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KKA office, the permanent administrative structureExecutive Director, Expert for evaluation and
accreditation and two Administrative officers.
KAA’s activity
• Determines accreditation criteria and standards and makes them
public
• In line with ESG for QA in HE
• Organizes institutional and program accreditation process
• Advises HEI for conducting self-evaluation and external review;
• Selects international experts for Expert panels
• Prepares Accreditation proposals on the basis of self evaluation,
external review, accreditation criteria and benchmarking for the
Accreditation Board( National Council of Quality) on application for
accreditation
• publishes accreditation results in Albanian and English (website)
• Keeps the database of experts
• Follows and researches developments in QA in HE in the country,
Europe and international level
Accreditation standards
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Academic Freedom
Higher Education Institutions should be autonomous and should guarantee academic freedom.
Their statutes and organizational structures should provide freedom in research (both in respect
of submitting questions, theories and methods and also in disseminating research outcomes
and its assessment) and freedom of teaching (in respect of diversity of content, methods of
course delivery and freedom to express scientific and artistic opinions).
• Scope and Diversity
The institution should have a broad and diverse range of studies within one or more disciplines,
which accord with the European concept for higher education. Disciplines can include traditional
fields e.g. medicine, music, law or theology, and also other new combined courses with
comparable breadth.
• Research at the Institution
The research should be undertaken at the institution. This determines the presence of a critical
mass to the institutionalized production of knowledge and its contribution to teaching.
• Teaching Staff
• The institution should have at its disposal sufficient permanent academic, scientific and artistic
staff, on full-time employment contracts which are valid for at least three years. This permanent
teaching staff should be qualified or distinguished in arts and must cover at least 50% of the
entire teaching load of a course of study and be qualified (via Ph.D. or artistic achievements).
To provide the connection between research and teaching this permanent teaching staff should
have at least three persons for each study course, and at least one of them should have the
status of professor. This person should hold a higher scientific or artistic qualification.
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Procedures for selecting the teaching staff
The institution’s procedure for selecting all its academic staff must be transparent,
competitive and determined by quality.
• Quality Assurance
Institutions must have in place internal policies and procedures for quality assurance
of their study programs and awards, Students outcomes and employment.
• Study plans
Study plans (detailed curricula) and examination regulations should meet all material,
professional and formal requirements, and accord with international standards.
Admission to studies must correspond with Kosovo’s rules and overall conditions for
admission to higher education.
• Facilities and equipment
Facilities and equipment must provide adequate tools for studies in accordance with
international standards.
• Financing
Support for the mid-term financing of the institution should be demonstrated through a
detailed Business-Plan.
• Development plan
The institution must demonstrate how it will fulfil all of the above requirements in a
development plan covering a period of three years.
Accreditation process
• Ex-ante (preliminary)-one year institutional and program
accreditation to new providers
• Three year accreditation
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Procedure
Application-SER
Selection of experts
Site visit
Evaluation report (draft is sent to the institution for comments)
Accreditation decision
Approval from the minister
Publication of results
The right to Appeal
Improvement plan
Expert panels
• International experts
• Student involvement
• Guidelines for experts and code of good practice for
site visits based on the best practices in Europe
• Two accreditation processes
• 2009, 2010
• Institutional and program accreditation
• About 100 international experts from Europe and
region engaged in two-year processes( Austria,
Germany, UK, Ireland, Slovenia, Finland, Swiss,
Belgium, Bulgaria, Albania)
Number of Accredited Programs in Higher Education
Institutions in Kosovo - Academic Year 2009/2010 (without UM
Accredited
Programes in Public
Inst of Higher
Education (PuIHE)
105
152
Accredited
Programes in Private
Inst of Higher
Education (PrIHE)
Number of Accredited Programs according to
Degree
nr of Ba in PBHE,
74
Nr of Programes
in BA in PuIHE,
80
Nr of Ba in PubIHE
Nr of MA in Pub IHE
Nr of MA in PBHE
Nr of MA in
PBHE, 31
nr of Ba in PBHE
Nr of MA in Pub
IHE, 58
Number of Students according to the subjects in Private
Institution of Higher Education
Insurance/Security, 365
Custom , 270
Tourism , 48
Design, 159
Physical Culture and Sport, 354
Medicine, 406
Philology , 271
Media/Journalism , 334
Social Sciences, 772
Transport/Telecom unication/Po
st Traffic/Road Traffic, 572
Econom y/Managem ent, 9588
IT/Engeeniering, 3111
International
Relation/Diplom acy/Eurpean
Studies, 620
Public Adm in, 602
Law , 2711
The Impact of accreditation process in QA in HEI
• International expertise provided-benchmarking
• The internal QA structures became compulsory to all
HEI
• LO approach for description of study programs and
their units
• Encouragement of internationalization and
cooperation in teaching and research
• Improvement of student services
• Transparency and public information
• Support for the development of professional
education
• Diversification of HE system
• Increase number of internship and links to economy
Internationalization and cooperation
• European Association for Quality Assurance (ENQA)
associate member (April 2011)
• Central and Eastern European Network of Quality
Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (CEEN) – full
member
• International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in
Higher Education (INQAAHE, 1991) – in application
stage
• KAA and accreditation process is seen as a
powerful tool for quality enhancement and
regulation of HE sector in Kosovo which brought
back the public trust in the system.
NQH-HEQF
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8 levels
Three levels of HEQ
Level 6 -bachelor (180-240 ECTS) BA,BSc,Diploma
Level 7-Master(60-120ECTS) MA,MSc,MBA,
Postgraduate Diploma….
Level 8- Doctoral studies-PhD, Dr….
Definition of the LO for the 3 HEQ levels
Standards for HE qualifications: academic standards by
KAA and HEI,
sectorial or professional standards by professional
bodies
• Competences, knowledge, skills:
confidence about the management of
quality and the outcomes achieved.
• Thank you for your attention!