Capacity Building for QA: The experience of RIACES

1. Capacity Building for QA: The experience of RIACES Third Global Forumon International Quality Assurance, Accreditation and the Recognition of Qualifications Maria Jose Lemaitre Dar es Salaam, September 2007

2. RIACES • Iberoamerican Network for Quality Assessment and Assurance in Higher Education • Established in Buenos Aires, in 2004 • Has 29 members, in eighteen countries in Latin America, the Spanish speaking Caribbean dn Spain • Its funding comes from fees paid by members (small) and a grant from the World Bank for three years, starting 2006 MJL

3. RIACES Its goal is to promote cooperation and exchange among iberoamerican countries on issues of assessment and accreditation of quality in higher education, and thus, to contribute to the quality of higher education in the region MJL

4. Member countries: MJL

5. Argentina  Brazil Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Ecuador Spain México Paraguay Countries with QA agencies as RIACES members Dominican Republic MJL

6. Priorities for action • Support to quality assurance activities in those countries with no agency or where QA is in its initial stages • Support to existing agencies • Strengthening of links with international organizations (IESALC, INQAAHE, OEI, ALCUE) • Strengthening of the secretariat in order to provide information and act as a clearinghouse for QA issues (www.riaces.net) • Strengthening of mutual recognition processes • Carrying out studies on subjects identified by the GA MJL

7. Capacity building activities Training opportunities for the human resources within the external quality assurance agencies: • Internships for staff members • Participation in international meetings and seminars. • Translation and dissemination of quality assurance materials from agencies around the world • Participation in conferences and seminars on QA in Latin America and other regions MJL

8. Capacity building activities Training of academic and administrative staff within higher education institutions • organization of meetings and workshops and other projects proposed and developed by the agencies. • funding of projects to develop a self assessment capacity within higher education institutions, • funding of specific projects, that may involve the presence of foreign consultants to work with groups that are trying to set up a quality assurance agency (Uruguay, Central America, Paraguay and Bolivia). MJL

9. Capacity building activities Training of academic and administrative staff within higher education institutions (cont.) • Organization of study visits for representatives from higher education institutions to learn about self assessment and quality assurance • Organization of seminars or conferences on quality assurance related issues Training of external reviewers • Participation of potential reviewers as observers in external review processes MJL

10. Capacity building activities Main objectives: • To set up quality assurance as a joint effort of quality assurance agencies, higher education academic and administrative staff and evaluators • To invite government officials and other stakeholders to join these primary actors in working towards quality • To help develop a regulatory framework both for national and transnational offerings MJL