EQAF 2010 - 5th European Quality Assurance Forum - Building Bridges: Making sense of QA in European, national and institutional contexts

ate : 18-11-2010 - 20-11-2010

Lyon

Organisation : European University Association (EUA)
Co-organised by ENQA, ESU and EURASHE and supported by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission
Hosted by University Claude Bernard Lyon I, France

Programme :
The fifth EQAF provides a unique platform for the higher education and QA communities to follow, shape and anticipate developments in the area. The main purpose of the event is to foster a dialogue on quality assurance that bridges national boundaries and leads to a truly European discussion on QA in higher education (notably through the Bologna process higher education reforms), and to create a common European understanding of QA through a dialogue among different stakeholder groups.



The theme of this year’s Forum is “Building Bridges: Making sense of QA in European, national and institutional contexts”.
Through plenary and parallel sessions, the discussion will focus on the grass roots level of quality assurance in the context of the ongoing development of the European Higher Education Area.

Conference Objectives:

The 2010 Forum will seek to examine how quality assurance tools and processes implemented at institutional and agency level:
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relate to European and national level policy discussions and decisions, and
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interact with and support institutional quality assurance frameworks and quality culture.


Programme:

- Official Opening and Plenary Session I: Is there a European Dimension to QA?
This session will settle the stage for the EQAF 2010 by discussing the nature of the European dimension and how it is manifested in the daily quality assurance and enhancement practices.
“One fleet, many ships, same destination”, by Peter Williams, former QAA Chief Executive and former president of ENQA, United Kingdom

- Plenary Session II: Taking stock of institutional QA processes in Europe
This session will examine institutional QA processes across Europe, and how they can be articulated with the development of a quality culture.
“Mapping internal quality assurance practices in Europe: results of a survey”, by Tia Loukkola, Head of Unit, EUA

- Plenary session III: Learning outcomes – exploring the challenges to QA
What is the link between the learning outcomes, as described and used nowadays, and quality assurance? Whereas in some countries the learning outcomes are taken as a legislative basis for shaping the higher education landscape, this session will address practical issues to be faced on the field.
• “Exploring learning outcomes”, by Volker Gehmlich, Fachhochschule Osnabrück, Germany
• “Student-centred learning: a student perspective”, by Robert Santa, ESU, Romania

- Plenary Session IV: External Quality Assurance: its role and impact
This session will discuss the role and impact of external quality assurance in the changing context.
• “The relevance of external quality assurance: an overview”, by Agi Csonka, Danish Evaluation Institute (EVA), Denmark
• “Experiences in external quality assurance exercises from various perspectives”, by Janja Komljenovic, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Slovenia

- Plenary Session V: Closing Session
The closing session will consist of an exchange of views on the discussions held during the previous days between the presidents of ENQA, EURASHE, EUA and ESU. The discussion will be introduced and facilitated by Bjorn Stensaker, Acting Director of NIFU-STEP and academic advisor of the Forum Steering Committee.



URL : http://www.eua.be/eqaf-lyon.aspx