The agenda of ANQA’s July 17 meeting with the heads of quality assurance departments of HEIs covered mechanisms for the identification of best practices in academic programmes (APs) and the role of the quality assurance system in the self-audit of APs.
This meeting continued discussions on the self-audit templates with HEI representatives on July 3.
During the meeting, the main components of the APs’ progress analysis were discussed, involving:
- the development and review of the APs;
- the mapping of APs and alignment of outcomes;
- the student workload and credit distribution;
- the alignment of alumni's competencies with labour market requirements.
Particular emphasis was placed on aligning student workload with the assigned credits. The goal is to enhance learning effectiveness, ensuring students are not overloaded or underloaded. The meeting addressed data collection methodologies, including course descriptors and credit distribution, surveys or discussions among students, teachers’ evaluation of course workload and analysis of academic progress.
An importance was attached to the alignment of alumni's competencies with labour market requirements and the inclusion of elective subjects to ensure an educational environment consistent with modern technologies.
Following the meeting, an agreement was reached to create groups with the participation of HEIs for thematic research on the discussed topics. The studies will generate data that benefits the entire system, ensuring continuous quality enhancement and development of HEIs’ capacities for the self-audit of academic programmes.
It should be noted that ANQA has declared next year as the Year of Quality Research, contributing to the organization of thematic workshops and practice exchange webinars with the participation of HEIs. Discussions on academic programmes will continue in the academic year 2025-2026.