On November 21, a series of workshops on programme accreditation and structural enhancement of academic programmes (AP) was launched, involving ANQA’s specialists and teachers from the Pedagogy and Education Development Centre of the Yerevan State University (YSU).
During the first workshop, Varduhi Gyulazyan, head of ANQA’s Institutional and Programme Accreditation Division, highlighted the institutional accreditation's impact on the AP enhancement and the programme accreditation’s priorities.
The following issues were addressed:
- the role of the educational environment and resources in the outcome achievement, along with learning opportunities in real-world professional settings;
- the modern approaches to teaching and learning methods, the key principles of student-centred teaching and the application of outcome-aligned methods;
- the AP management, mechanisms for internal quality assurance, enhancement process guided by the PDCA cycle and data-driven decision-making;
- the enhancement of the assessment system, mechanisms for the assessment of outcome-aligned capacities;
- the learning outcomes should be well-defined, measurable and consistent with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).
It was emphasised that the AP template and structure should enable the achievement of all intended outcomes. "Under the new law, all intended outcomes should be verified, requiring the enhancement of assessment methods", noted Ruben Topchyan, ANQA’s director.
Reference was also made to the ex-ante accreditation stipulated by the Law on Higher Education and Science, its goals and expected outcomes.
The upcoming workshops will focus on the academic programme structure and the planning of AP reforms.