International Day of Higher Education Disciplinary Quality Assurance

The year 2024 has been earmarked to rejuvenate and strategically reorient EASPA. As a first, but highly important measure, we invite all members and potential members as well as international guests from Asia, Africa and the United States to the EASPA/ASIIN International Day of Higher Education Disciplinary Quality Assurance in the city of Düsseldorf on April 8th 2024. The whole event with high calibre speakers and multiple contributions of EASPA members will be rounded off by an exciting social program.

The corresponding agenda can be found here. It provides for each EASPA organisation to be represented by one or more members with a short presentation. Subsequently, speeches on the following topics will lead to a fruitful discussion: Importance and Advantages of a Disciplinary Approach to Quality Assurance in Higher Education; How to best make use of an International field-specific assurance seal in “top-up” procedures: The European Chemistry Thematic Network Association and EASPA as promoters of excellent field-specific didactics in Higher Education: the Eurolecturer Academy as a new model; Revolutionary new ways of jointly offering & marketing continuous education of EASPA members; New models for “Testing Achieved Learning Outcomes: the case of medical education”  (suggestions for & by EASPA members) as well as News in Disciplinary Professional Quality Assurance around the Globe (Asia, Africa and United States).

EASPA Webinar: Completing the QA circle

On 18 September 2023, the last EASPA webinar took place, during which the General Secretary of the Alliance, Dr Wasser, presented the considerable extent to which the organisation, founded by ASIIN in 2011, unites European umbrella associations that deal with quality assurance on the basis of agreed transnational learning outcomes/professional competence profiles. After initially referring to the European Qualifications Framework and then to the respective national qualifications frameworks in the Single European Education Area, the networks belonging to EASPA have developed their own subject-specific criteria in a third step. Current initiatives of the European Commission are currently aiming to develop sub-disciplinary qualifications frameworks in a fourth step, particularly in booming areas such as artificial intelligence or software engineering.

The corresponding presentation can be found here.

The next EASPA General Assembly will take place on 4 December 2023. The corresponding agenda can be downloaded here.

EASPA Webinar: New Developments in European Professional Accreditation

EASPA hereby cordially invites all current and potential new EASPA members to participate in its webinar on December 2 nd , 2021, from 10.30 -12.00 o´clock (CEST).

You can join the meeting via computer, tablet or smartphone by simply clicking on the following link: https://asiin-de.zoom.us/j/92371494150?pwd=YlVtdnlSVFZCV2k4SXFWQ00rd1NRdz09 shortly before 10.30 o´clock on the meeting day.

The Webinar entails presentations (from 10.30-11.00 c´clock including discussion) by:

  1. Gustavo Alonso, who will speak about current and future activitivies of the European Aerospace PEGASUS network:
    Gustavo received a Master in aerospace engineering from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) in 1990, an MBA from IESE in 1998 and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from UPM in 2005. He is currently Professor at the School of Aerospace Engineering of UPM, where he has been Deputy Director. Prof. Alonso lectures in Space Systems Engineering and Air Transport subjects. He has participated in some 50 research projects funded by public institutions and private companies. Gustavo is the programme director of the microsatellite UPMSat-2 (University-class micro-satellite launched in 2020) and Principal investigator of research projects in scientific missions of ESA and NASA (ExoMars, Solar Orbiter, Ariel, etc.). He coordinates the H2020 ALTERNATE project, on the development of sustainable aviation fuels.He is a visiting professor at several Universities in Europe, America and Asia, and a member of the Physical Sciences Working Group of the European Space Agency (ESA) between 2017 and 2021. He is currently Chairman of PEGASUS, the association of European aeronautics and space Universities, member of the board of ALICANTO (International Association of Aviation and Aerospace Education) and member of the Standing Council of BRAIA (Belt and Road Aerospace Innovation Alliance). Before joining the University in 2005, he was working for ESA, Airbus and different engineering companies for 15 years.
  2. Secondly, we will hear (from 11.00-11.30) a contribution from Linda Messas, “Searching for new approaches to strengthen subject-specific QA” – the case of the European MUSIQUE network:
    Linda Messas is the Director of MusiQuE – Music Quality Enhancement, the EQAR-registered Foundation for Quality Enhancement and Accreditation in Higher Music Education since its establishment in 2014. She is also General Manager / Deputy CEO of the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC) since 2011. Linda has played a key role in the development of AEC’s quality assurance activities since she joined AEC in 2007 and in the establishment of MusiQuE as a separate foundation in 2014. She has gained a deep knowledge of the sector through her role of Review Team secretary in several review visits in Europe. Linda has also been conceiving and managing several large-scale European projects and networks aiming at innovating higher music education and strengthening its relevance.
  3. And last but not least I have invited a presentation (from 11.30-12.00 c´clock) of Oliver Olsen, Director of European Operations of a perspective future EASPA member, the Accreditation council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)
    Oliver W. Olson was appointed Director of European of the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) in September 2021. An American citizen (born and raised in California) has his Bachelor’s in International Business from Cal State Fullerton and his MBA from UT Dallas. He started his professional career at Salamander Shoes in Germany in the 90’s. He then moved to the USA where he worked his way up in banking for more than a decade with NationsBank, Bank of America and Providian Financial, with a final stint as CIO of a community bank near Dallas, Texas. In 2004, Oliver switched to academia where he was the MBA Director for CEU Business School in Budapest, Hungary and then founded Maastricht School of Management Romania and was that school’s first Dean and Academic Director. Since 2014 Oliver has been with Maastricht School of Management (MSM, an ACBSP and ATHEA accredited institution) filling a variety of administrative and faculty roles, most recently as a Senior Lecturer of Marketing and Strategy. Professor Olson currently teaches Marketing and Strategy to MBA students in almost a dozen countries, consults and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. In addition to his faculty role at MSM, Oliver is the Executive Director of ATHEA, consults for a variety of European start-ups and serves on the Advisory Board of MERIT.

Dear Colleagues, the idea of EASPA webinars is, to strengthen the case of Disciplinary Accreditation in Europe and on a Global level and to learn from new ideas and best practice within our network and beyond. We are looking forward to seeing many interested participants on the occasion of the Second EASPA Conference 2021.

Here you can download the presentations of the speakers:

Presentation given by Gustavo Alonso from ACBSP

Presentation given by Linda Messas from MusiQuE

Presentation given by Oliver Olsen from ACBSP

NEW DATE: First EASPA Webinar on New Developments in European Quality Assurance

after the technical problems in the first attempt forced us to postpone, EASPA hereby cordially invites all current and potential new EASPA members to participate in its first webinar on May 4th, from 10 -12.30 o´clock (CEST).

You can join the meeting via computer, tablet or smartphone by simply clicking on the following link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/753849037 shortly before 10 c´clock on the meeting day.

Programme:

  1. Colin Tück, the Secretary General of the European Register EQAR and I myself will join hands in our joint presentation on “New Developments in European Quality Assurance: Innovative Ways to synergize International Recognition Procedures”, where we would like to discuss with you some new ideas of how to best combine various recognition procedures such as our own Network Authorization Procedure and other forms of European Agency Reviews like the review to become a member of the European Quality Assurance Register. The common element in all these reviews is obviously a compliance test against the European Standards and Guidelines.

  2. Jutta Breyer, the coordinator will give an overview of the new “European Software Skills Alliance” as an example on how to design and implement a comprehensive educational European framework,  combining the perspectives of universities, employers, ERIC/NARICs etc.  in a unique way and developing new educational programs on the way as model for other disciplines to follow suite.

  3. Prof. Rui Costa as Secretary General of the global International Food Association (IFA),will present its QA system for food science and engineering and provide an overview concerning its ongoing activities (Accreditation, European projects, conferences, online course databases, ejournals) as does

  4. Prof. John Butler,  C.E.O. of EQA Arts,  about new European QA developments in the European Higher Arts Education Arts Landscape.

As EASPA plans to establish a series of webinars, which will take place in a regular rhythm, current and potential new members are invited to send proposals for future webinar themes and presentations to gf@asiin.de.

EASPA welcomes new members

During its General Assembly on 16 October 2020, EASPA members voted unanimously in favour of acceptance of three new member organizations. With EQ-Arts (concerned with quality assurance in arts programmes), ADEE (the association for dental education in Europe), and Iuventum (a UNESCO-associated organization for the promotion of global education), EASPA has significantly increased its multi-disciplinary perspective in professional and subject-specific quality assurance.

The president, the members of the executive board, and all other member organizations look forward to working with these new partners!

Third Global Conference for Specialized and Professional Accreditors in cooperation with ASPA

New Initiatives in Quality Assurance based on field-specific Learning Outcomes

Berlin, Germany – Monday, 2 May 2016

Pre-Conference workshop to the 2016 ASIIN Interntional Conference “Quality Assurance in Higher Education – the unsolved Mystery of its untapped Potential” How can we jointly tackle the five remaining grand challenges? on 3-4 May 2016.

Location

Steigenberger Hotel, Location and Directions

Target Group

  • Representatives of international Quality Assurance Agencies
  • Representatives of Recognition Authorities
  • Representatives of the national and international higher education community
  • Representatives of the professional organizations

Theme

The pre-conference workshop will explore the current state of affairs in subject-specific and professional accreditation.
In some regions such as in Africa, further steps are taken towards making harmonization of higher education quality and quality assurance a reality. A new initiative financed by the European Commission is set to support these developments which will be complemented by an overview of other world regions. In Europe the next phase of external quality assurance is initiated. A new project will determine whether achieved learning outcomes can be measured and compared in a number of disciplines. This will be viewed in light of the AHELO project results. All of these developments will be analyzed against the backdrop of current developments in the US.

Presentations

The presentations are available below.

Agenda

From 09:00
Registration

10:00 – 13:00
Possibility to participate in morning pre-conference workshops


14:00 – 14:15
Introduction to the Third Global Conference
Dr. Iring Wasser, President EASPA


14:15 – 14:45
Development of the Quality Assurance system for Aerospace Engineering in Europe
Prof. Franco Bernelli, Politecnico di Milano

14:45 – 15:15
Measuring and Comparing Achievements of Learning Outcomes in Higher Education in Europe (CALOHEE Project)
Robert Wagenaar, Director International TUNING Academy, University of Groningen

15:15 – 15:45
Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes – What comes after the AHELO-Project?
Hamish Coates, University of Melbourne

15:45 – 16:15
Coffee break


16:15 – 16:40
Specialized Quality Assurance in other World Regions – An overview
Jagannath Patil, President International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education

16:40 – 17:00
State of Play of Specialized and Professional Accreditation in the US
Joseph Vibert, Executive Director, Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA)

17:00
End of the conference

Possibility to join Tour of Berlin

“Professional Higher Education Accreditation – why does it matter more than ever?”

4th ASIIN/EASPA Global QA Conference in Higher Education 2017

This is the official website for the 4th ASIIN/EASPA Global QA Conference 2017 which took place on 11 December 2017, in the beautiful city of Düsseldorf, Germany.

The 4th Global Conference on “Professional Higher Education Accreditation: Why does it matter more than ever?” united leading higher education QA experts from around the globe and presented the state of research with regard to the following topics:

  • Measuring and comparing achievement in Higher Education systems: Holy Grail or Curse?
  • Impact and value added of subject specific and professional accreditation.
  • Professional accreditation as a strategic priority in global HE and QA agendas (e.g. United States, Arab Region as well as Africa)
  • Combining professional Learning outcome based QA systems with national institutional and program accreditation schemes
  • New developments in the field of European and global disciplinary accreditation and quality assurance

On 12 December 2017 the EASPA General Assembly was organized.

5th Global Conference in cooperation with ASIIN

“The dawning of a new era of HE quality assurance – what can we expect from the future?”

The 5th Global Conference in cooperation with ASIIN took place on 10 – 11 December 2018 in the Crown Plaza Hotel in Berlin.

Agenda

The agenda included plenary sessions, presentations, forum discussions and workshops that will stimulate in-depth discussion between the participants.

Conference Program

Foto of the Participants

“Professional Higher Education Accreditation – why does it matter more than ever?”

4th ASIIN/EASPA Global QA Conference in Higher Education 2017

The 4th ASIIN/EASPA Global QA Conference 2017 took place on 11 December 2017, in the beautiful city of Düsseldorf, Germany.

The 4th Global Conference on “Professional Higher Education Accreditation: Why does it matter more than ever?” united leading higher education QA experts from around the globe and presented the state of research with regard to the following topics:

  • Measuring and comparing achievement in Higher Education systems: Holy Grail or Curse?
  • Impact and value added of subject specific and professional accreditation.
  • Professional accreditation as a strategic priority in global HE and QA agendas (e.g. United States, Arab Region as well as Africa)
  • Combining professional Learning outcome based QA systems with national institutional and program accreditation schemes
  • New developments in the field of European and global disciplinary accreditation and quality assurance

On 12 December 2017 the EASPA General Assembly was organized.