Support to the Development and Monitoring of a Quality Assurance System for Higher Education

Location

Kazakhstan

Duration

2006 - 2007

Donor

EuropeAid - Tacis

Budget

647.500 EURO

Description and Deliverables

The overall objective of the project is to improve the quality of the higher education system in Kazakhstan. The specific objective of this contract is to develop a sound and effective system of quality assurance within Kazakhstan's higher education system, consistent with international standards and able to meet the rapidly changing needs of a market economy.

The project will involve reviewing the current quality assurance system used in Higher Education Institutions in Kazakhstan, evaluating quality assurance systems used in EU and other transition countries, then developing and piloting a new quality assurance system for Kazakhstan Higher Education Institutions and the programmes running in these institutions.
For the scope of the term "quality assurance" will be taken to include the following dimensions:

Regulation (legal frameworks, governance, responsibilities and accountabilities etc)
Educational process (admissions, registration or enrolment, curriculum design and delivery, support for learning, assessment, etc)
Curriculum design and content (validation and approval frameworks, levels and standards etc)
Learning experience (consumer protection, student experience, complaints and appeals etc)
Outcomes (qualifications, certificates, transcripts and Diploma Supplement, security, transferability, recognition/currency and value etc)

The expected results from the project are:

To build up the capacity of the Ministry of Education, including the National Accreditation Centre to develop an effective system of quality assurance and accreditation in line with the Bologna declaration with a view to develop criteria and methodologies of comparison.
To develop an institutional and legal policy and implementation strategy for improving the quality assurance education system for higher education in line with the Bologna Agreement.
To develop a new system for the quality assurance and monitoring of higher education.
To develop a new public and independent education quality control body in the system of higher education.

Services:

Assessment of development needs
Organisation of an initial training workshop
Design of the type of organisational structure, competences and systems that meets the European requirements of a quality assurance body
Review of the existing legal and political framework in the field of higher education quality assurance and accreditation.
Development of an outline of an institutional and legal policy and implementation strategy for the improvement of the Higher Education Quality Assurance system
Drafting proposals for the necessary changes into current legislation.
Carry out a stocktaking and an assessment of the current quality assurance and monitoring
Carry out research and comparative analysis of European and other transition countries methodologies of modern quality assurance systems for education,
Identification of European Networks for quality assurance in education and link with them
Development of a new methodology to establish an effective system of quality assurance and monitoring
Carry out a training needs assessment, define and implement a training programme for stakeholders at national and regional levels.
Test of the newly designed methodology in a selected number of higher educational institutions and programmes
Organisation and carry out dissemination exercise to present the methodology of the system of quality assurance and monitoring to a wide audience, to achieve a consensus on the standards, criteria and methodologies to be developed.
Development of a methodology to carry out efficient, reliable and independent monitoring of the implementation of educational state standards.