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UNESCO and DAAD provided an online and face to face course for staff working in quality assurance at universities and at external QA organisations from six Southern African countries. Ms. Doris Herrmann, Managing Director at AQAS, felt honoured to be one of the senior experts who functioned as facilitators during the IIEP online course as well as during the conference and training which took place in Botswana.

Ms. Herrmann appreciated the high-level discussions between the African and European senior experts with the participants of the course. It became obvious that although some of the aspects discussed were specific for African Higher Education systems, many challenges are similar in all parts of the world. Some of the questions discussed were: How should the continental African Standards and Guidelines be aligned with regional QA criteria? Which cornerstones are important for implementing national external QA systems? Which benefits and disadvantages do the qualitative versus quantitative QA approaches have?

All participants who successfully completed the training received their certificates in a ceremony at the end of the course. The participants considered the training to be helpful for their everyday business: “We did learn a lot and benefitted immensely. We look forward to further courses and collaboration in the near future. The experience we had during the said event was awesome.

Being one of the pioneers of the European Approach, the University of Eastern Finland and the consortium partner universities have considered suitable EQAR-registered agencies throughout Europe to accredit the Erasmus Mundus joint degree programme “European Forestry”. The procedure which has included international experts and the positive decision by the AQAS Standing Commission show the efficiency and applicability of this new tool on European level. We want to congratulate the consortium of the programme on this very good result!

The first AQAS accreditation in the United Arab Emirates was awarded last week to AL Ain University of Science and Technology for the programmes of the College of Communication and Media. The certificate was handed as part of a ceremony in presence of the Rector, Chancellor, Deans as well as councilors to the minister of education. This accreditation underlines the achievements of the College and AAU in upgrading the scientific level of its education. Once more congratulations to the College and AAU!

Wir suchen ab September 2019 eine Organisations-/Projektassistenz (in Vollzeit). Die vollständige Stellenanzeige finden Sie hier.

Am 27./28. Mai tagte die Ständige Kommission von AQAS in ihrer konstituierenden Sitzung in Bonn. Die Ständige Kommission ist das zentrale Gremium von AQAS e.V. zur Durchführung von Begutachtungs- und Akkreditierungsverfahren für Studiengänge und Qualitätsmanagementsystemen. In entspannter Atmosphäre hat die Geschäftsführung von AQAS einen Rückblick auf 17 interessante und ereignisreiche Jahre der Gremienarbeit bei AQAS präsentiert.

Im Zuge der Veränderungen im deutschen Akkreditierungssystem wurde die Ständige Kommission (StäK) auf Beschluss der Mitgliederversammlung vom 19. November 2018 ins Leben gerufen. Die StäK ist zuständig für alle Entscheidungen, die im Zusammenhang mit der Durchführung von Begutachtungs- und Akkreditierungsverfahren auf nationaler und internationaler Ebene erforderlich sind. In Begutachtungsverfahren nach MRVO verabschiedet sie insbesondere die Prüfberichte und bestellt die Gutachtergruppen. In Verfahren nach altem Recht übernimmt sie die Aufgaben der früheren Akkreditierungskommissionen für die Programmakkreditierung (AK Prog) sowie für die Systemakkreditierung (AK Sys). Zur Freude von AQAS konnten viele Mitglieder der beiden ehemaligen Kommissionen auch für die Mitarbeit in dem neuen Gremium gewonnen werden.

In dieser ersten Sitzung wurden Prof. Dr. Urbaan Titulaer (Johannes-Kepler-Universität Linz) als Vorsitzender und Prof. Dr. Dietmar von Reeken (Carl von Ossietzky-Universität Oldenburg) als Stellvertretender Vorsitzender gewählt. Aus der AK Prog verabschiedet wurden Prof. Volker Gehmlich (Hochschule Osnabrück), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Birgit Steffenhagen (Hochschule Stralsund) und Prof. Dr. Stephan Steinlechner (Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover).

AQAS bedankt sich ebenfalls bei den ausscheidenden Mitgliedern der AK Sys und insb. bei dem Vorsitzenden Prof. Dr. Marcus Siebolds (Katholische Hochschule NRW) für den langjährigen Einsatz, die diskussionsreiche Beteiligung und die stetige Unterstützung von AQAS. Die Akkreditierungskommission für die Systemakkreditierung tagte bereits im Dezember 2018 zum letzten Mal.

Die nächsten Sitzungen der Ständigen Kommission finden am 19./20. August und am 25. November 2019 statt.

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In last week’s meeting the Standing Commission decided positively on the accreditation status of the Bachelor study programme “Mass Communication and Media” (with the specializations in journalism, advertising and public relations) offered by the Al-Ain University of Science and Technology in the United Arab Emirates. With this decision the Standing Commission confirms the essential compliance of the study programme with the requirements of the AQAS criteria and thus with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG). Our congratulations go to the management of Al-Ain University, Professor Ghaleb El Refae, AAU’s president and Dr Noor Atatreh, Chancellor of the university, and Professor Abdulrahman Dheyab Abdullah, dean of the College of Communication and Media, for this great achievement.

Supporting societal engagement of higher education will be the theme of EQAF 2019 that will take place from 21-23 November in Berlin. The European Quality Assurance Forum is the largest conference on quality assurance in Higher Education in Europe and the call for contribution is out now. Taking place in Germany the forum offers a great chance for German institutions and AQAS member organizations to present their societal engagement. Details of the call can be found here.

In January a group of experts and two of our consultants visited both campuses of Al Ain University of Science and Technology (United Arab Emirates). Discussing the quality of education in the Department of Communication and Media the group held several meetings with AAU representatives including the President and Dean, the heads of programmes, teaching staff and the students of the college. Students of the college produced this short video showing the welcome ceremony and discussions during the visit at AAU.

For more informations go to:
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