On November 4, the another meeting between NAQA and the Slovenian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (SQAA) took place. During the meeting agencies generally presented their work and the experience of the agencies during the pandemic. From NAQA the meeting was attended by Serhiy Kvit, NAQA Head, Nataliia Stukalo, NAQA Vice-Head, Olena Yeremenko, NAQA Vice-Head and Albina Tsiatkovska, International Project Manager. SQAA was represented by Franci Demšar, Head of SQAA, president of CEENQA, Klemen Šubic, Head of Department for international cooperation and information technology, Maja Milas, Deputy Head of Department for international cooperation and information technology, Nataša Kramar, Adviser, Department for analytics.
Established in 2010, SQAA is responsible for quality assurance in Slovenian higher education. Higher education institutions and study programmes demonstrate the appropriate quality of education through accreditation granted by the Agency.
During the meeting, the discussion focused on the transparency and independence of agencies; involvement of international experts in accreditation examinations; internal quality assurance systems in the HEIs; accreditation financing and others. Note that the cooperation between the agencies was launched in September 2020 during the First bi-monthly CEENQA Meeting. The SQAA then analysed the compliance of the Naqa and its activities with Standard 3.3. ESG (independence) and provided relevant conclusions and recommendations.
Participants stressed the importance of sharing experiences and participating in joint projects and outlined ways of further cooperation.