Strenthening QA Agencies in the Western Balkans: Tools, Compliance and Readiness for ENQA reviews

In the organization of Regional Cooperation Concil (RCC), Croatian Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE), and Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe (ERI SEE) Secretariat, on 24th and 25th April 2025 the representatives of agencies for quality assurance in higher education from the Western Balkans 6 gathered in Zagreb, on the ASHE premises, to discuss the next steps in advancing the quality assurance. The discussion also included plans for membership in ENQA (European Network of Quality Assurance agencies) and registration in EQAR (European Quality Assurance Register), pending compliance with the European Standards and Guidelins for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ESG).

The Workshop encouraged a regional dialogue for advancing quality assurance and offer plenty of opportunities for discussion and exchange of experiences among the agencies, facilitated and moderated by RCC (Ms Ulpiana Lama), ASHE (Ms Danijela Horvatek Tomić) and ERI SEE (Ms Tina Šarić).

The Workshop was preceeded by the intensive exercise conducted by ASHE from November 2024 – February 2025 that included visits to all 6 QA agencies of the Western Balkans; analysing the systems, procedures, regulations and their compliance with the ESG; discussions and exchanges among the experts; and resulted in the Action plans for all 6 QA agencies. These Action plans, together with the up-dates on their status, and up-coming plans, were presented during the Zagreb workshop.

The Workshop also gave a key presentation by ASHE representatives on the organization of work meeting the internal quality assurance requirements, by Ms Mina Đorđević and Ms Sandra Bezjak, and a presentation of the KAA which presented the preparation of the self-evaluation report for ENQA review, by Mr Naim Gashi.

This segment was followed by a Workshop on Self-evaluation report, where the participants were exploring the development of self-evaluation reports with the particular focus on the compliance of their institutions with the Standard Internal Quality Assurance and Professional Conduct, which allowed participants to engage in group work analyzing the challenges and opportunities related to self-evaluation processes. On the following day, they presented the results of their analyses and exchanged ideas for improving internal quality assurance mechanisms. The final session of the workshop provided space for joint reflection and conclusions, together with the needs for future actions, led by ASHE and ERI SEE.

The workshop significantly contributed to strengthening regional cooperation, fostering a shared understanding of standards and expectations, and building trust among the agencies in the region.

The Agenda of the event is available here.