On June 2-3, 2023, the CEENQA General Assembly 2023 (Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education) was held in Astana. The organizer of the CEENQA General Assembly 2023 in Kazakhstan was the Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating (IAAR), which has won special recognition in the global international educational community.

General Director Alina Zhumagulova opened the meeting of the CEENQA General Assembly 2023, noting the importance and significance of international accreditation for quality assurance of education and increasing the demand for graduates in the labor market.

The event was attended by the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sayasat Nurbek, who in his speech noted that the development of the education system is aimed at ensuring the quality of educational services based on the widespread use of international experience and world standards. It is accreditation that today is an important mechanism for quality assurance of education, the main catalyst for updating educational programs and increasing the competitiveness of graduates.

CEENQA President Franci Demšar spoke at the General Assembly and emphasized that Kazakhstan is successfully integrated into the international educational space, which demonstrates scientific achievements and implemented projects of universities. The high professional level of the teaching staff, the administration work and the students achievements are the coordinated work of the entire university community, at the same time, the head of CEENQA noted the key role of accreditation agencies in promoting a quality culture and ensuring its improvement.

The General Assembly CEENQA 2023 was attended by European networks and foreign educational organizations from different countries of the world: Germany, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Northern Cyprus, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine, as well as international quality assurance networks in higher education ENQA, EQAR, INQAAHE and APQN.

The main goal of the CEENQA General Assembly 2023 was to discuss important issues of quality assurance in higher education, as well as the exchange of best practices in the field of transformation of education systems, which contributes to the development of a professional community for external evaluation.

Within the framework of the CEENQA General Assembly 2023, thematic seminars, an international workshop and a panel discussion were held, where the participants of the event were able to discuss topical issues of quality assurance in higher education and ways to solve them.

Speaker presentations:

Sayasat Nurbek, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan

https://studyinkazakhstan.edu.kz/

https://sayasatnurbek.com/

HE core values and the role of value satisfaction in QA capacity building, Susanna Karakhanyan, INQAAHE Immediate Past President

ESG perspectives, human resources and processes for internal QA, Melinda Szabó, EQAR Deputy Director

Developments in HR management in QA agencies, Vesna Dodiković-Jurković, ASHE Assistant Director

Good practice in staff development, Nataša Kramar, NAKVIS International and QA Department

Development of digital competence of QA staff, Liia Lauri, HAKA (Estonia)

HE inspectorate practices Lessons from the Covid-pandemic, Erik Martijnse, Ministry of Education (Netherlands)

Photos from the CEENQA-2023 General Assembly 

Letter of Appreciation from the President of CEENQA