On May 16, ANQA conducted monitoring of the internal quality assurance system at the Yerevan State BasicMedical College. In 2023, the education institution received institutional accreditation for a period of four years.
The monitoring aimed to examine the accreditation impact on the QA system and educational processes, track the follow-up plan implementation, as well as identify the achievements and potential challenges.
Meetings were held with the education institution’s management staff, teachers, students and the quality assurance manager.
The discussion focused on the following issues:
Strengthening and capacity building of the teaching staff
- mechanisms for the engagement of employer teachers;
- implementation of teachers’ professional and methodological training;
- methodology for teachers’ needs assessment;
- methods for the dissemination of practice gained through training;
- incentive mechanisms for teachers;
- steps to enhance teachers' English proficiency;
- mechanisms for the evaluation of training effectiveness.
Internationalization
- steps towards internationalisation;
- efforts to engage in exchange and grant programmes;
- benchmarking against foreign education institutions to identify enhancement opportunities.
Development of a research component
- steps to advance research development in the institution;
- research projects conducted with the participation of teachers and students;
- incorporation of a research component into internship activities;
- assignments for the development of students’ data analysis and handling skills.
- assessment criteria for research activities.
Student-centredness and formative assessment
- relevance of student assignments to the employer settings;
- formative assessment practices and teacher feedback to students;
- approaches to communicating employer expectations and field developments to students;
- methods to ensure that alumni acquired the professional competencies and skills required by the labour market.
Attraction of alternative funding sources
- steps to ensure financial stability and source diversification;
- short-term programmes and further steps planned in that direction.
At the end of the monitoring, ANQA’s specialists met with the institution's management staff to address strengths and possible enhancement areas. Particularly, importance was attached to the clarification of the assessment criteria for research activities, the expansion of the number of employer teachers, the periodic collection of data on the alumni’s professional progress, as well as the introduction of clear KPIs in the curricula.