On 17–18 September, the Ukrainian Quality Assurance Forum (UQAF-2025), held in Lutsk, became a hub for professional discussions on the future of the higher education quality assurance system.
The Forum gained particular international resonance thanks to the involvement of representatives from leading European and global quality assurance organisations. At the plenary session “Unity and Cooperation for the Future of Ukrainian Education”, ENQA President Douglas Blackstock, CEENQA President Vesna Dodiković-Jurković, and INQAAHE Chief Executive Officer Fabrice Henard joined online to share their insights. Meanwhile, EQAR Director Aleksandar Šušnjar, ENQA Board member and Director of the Estonian Quality Agency for Education (HAKA) Heli Mattisen, as well as Hillar Baumann, Assessment Director for Higher Education at HAKA, and Aqim Emurli, Vice Head of NAQA Advisory Board and Head of the programme “Sustainable Higher Education and Research” (SHER), were present in person in Lutsk, contributing actively to the discussions.
Equally insightful was the plenary discussion “Future-Proof or Fossilised? The Next Era of Higher Education”, which brought together Aleksandar Šušnjar, Heli Mattisen, and Aqim Emurli alongside Ukrainian experts.
A key highlight of the Forum was the panel discussion “Cross-Border Learning in Quality Assurance: Lessons from the Estonian-Ukrainian Institutional Accreditation Pilot”. During this session, Hillar Baumann and his colleagues presented practical lessons and outcomes of the joint Estonian-Ukrainian institutional accreditation project.
The international presence extended beyond experts: the event was also attended in person by Estonian media representative Christina Veinberg, ensuring wider coverage of the Forum in the European information space.
Once again, UQAF-2025 has demonstrated that quality in education is a shared responsibility, and that partnerships between Ukrainian and international experts make it possible to build a competitive higher education system worthy of European recognition.