Quality Assurance Agency in the Republic

of Moldova

PhD Nadejda Velișco,Head for higher education department,

Ministry of Education

Ministry of Education, Republic of Moldova

Agenda

The Moldovan Higher Education System

New National Agency for Quality Assurance in the Professional Education

Next steps

HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

The Moldovan Higher Education System

32 Universities ( 19 public and 13 private)• 83345 students cycle I - license ( bachelor)• 18655 students cycle II (master s Degree studies)• 28,1 % students on public budget• 71,9% students – tuition fees 292 students per 10000 inhabitants 76 graduates per 10000 inhabitants 6100 – teachers• 2174 – teachers- part time• 2958 ( 36% ) – PhD(doctors degree)• 542 (6,5% ) doctors habilitat

102.000 STUDENTS

Avg. investment of 18,556 MDL( 1000 Euro)/student

Number of students and graduates per 10 thousand inhabitants

Professional development The higher education system in the country ensures the

preparation of specialists in about 203 specialties. The distribution of students on fundamental domains is the

following:• Education 17,2%• Humanitarian Sciences and Arts 5,6% • Social Sciences, Economy and Law 33,0%• Sciences 5,9 % • Engineering, Processing Technologies, Architecture and

Constructions 28,2 % • Agriculture 2,10% • Medicine 3,2% • Services 4,8%

National Context ( Bologna process from 2005) Structure of higher education – similar to the European one

(Bachelor-Master-Doctorat ( Cycle I-Cycle II-Doctorat) New Nomenclature of domains and specialities for higher education ISCED97

and EUROSTAT New generations of study plans were developed, elaborated in accordance

with the Plan-frame; analytical programs were revised ECTS implementation -100% in all institutions and all programs Implementation of the Supliment to the Diploma -100% to all graduates in

Romanian and English languages Clasificators of specialties and study programs in accordance with ISCED97 Created on each university own management structures of quality Development of National Qualifications Framework

THE QUALITY ASSURANCE AGENCY

External quality assurance (QA)

New accreditation act approved by the Parliament (in October 2013) regarding the establishing the Moldovan QA agency

Name of the new QAA – National Agency for Quality Assurance in the Professional Education (NAQAPE)

Is an administrative authority of national interest, acting as a legal entity autonomous to the Government, independent in its decision, organization, and budgetary planning, and funded from the state budget and its own revenue.

Main responsibilities of a new Agency

To assess, on contractual basis, the institutions providing professional training programs, as well as their programs for the purpose of provisional operation authorization, accreditation, and reaccreditation in vocational/technical, higher, and continuous education.

The quality assessment refers to: a) institutional capacity; b) educational efficiency, including academic outputs; c) quality of initial and continuous professional training programs; d) institutional management of quality; e) results of scientific research and/or artistic creation; f) compliance between internal evaluation and real situation.

Coordination Council of Agency

The Coordination Council consists of 15 members with didactic positions in teaching and scientific research in higher education and research – innovation – development institutions, of which there is a student representative and a spokesperson of the organizations representative of the business community.

The members of the Governing Board are not allowed to hold any public official position or be rectors.

The President and the Vice President of the Coordination Council are elected by the Board from its members.

The members of Coordination Council will be approved through a Government Decision.

The selection of the members will be assisted by the international expert, from QA Agency, member ENQA.

Agency structure

Three departments, as follows:

1.for external evaluation in higher education

2.for accreditation in higher education

3.for evaluation and accreditation in VET Total: 45 members

Interim Coordination Council NAQAPE

Interim Coordination Council will create the necessary conditions for Agency operation :

- Regulation for members selection

- Selection of members

- Government Decision by the end of May 2014 Responsibilities of the Interim Coordination Council, as follows :

- Regulation of the Agency

- Development of methodological tools for the evaluation and accreditation process

- Selection of new members in the Coordination Council etc.

Next steps

Approval of the Regulation of AgencyApproval of evaluation methodology and quality

standards for evaluation and accreditation Training of the commissions of experts Launching of evaluation and accreditation process in

January 2015