Developing trust: Towards Mutual Recognition agreements MERCOSUR – RIACES

1. Developing trust: Towards Mutual Recognition agreementsMERCOSUR – RIACES María José Lemaitre Chile

2. Requirements for mobility and recognition • Trust on basic, shared quality requirements • Quality: wide and flexible definitions, able to account for different options in HE • Standards: for programmes, institutions and QA agencies MJL

3. Requirements for mobility and recognition TRUST HE Mobility Recognition QUALITY STANDARDS Accreditation MJL

4. Trust • Shared cultural elements • Quality assurance mechanisms • Need to develop substantive standards • Need to establish standards for QA processes MJL

5. Quality • Diversity of HE • Flexible definition of quality (internal and external consistency) • Legibility of degrees and diplomas • Qualifications frameworks MJL

6. Standards • Substantive standards: contents of teaching and learning, clear expected learning outcomes • Standards for quality assurance processes: procedures, GGP MJL

7. The MERCOSUR experience • Goal: To make degrees comparable in the six MERCOSUR countries • Conditions: to respect national sovereignty and institutional autonomy • Need to operate within national QA frameworks MJL

8. MERCOSUR

9. Standards for accreditation • Three expert groups, from the six countries • Expected learning outcomes for three programmes: • Engineering • Medicine • Agronomy • Conditions for operation (management, human resources, curriculum development, teaching and learning strategies, scholarship, learning resources) MJL

10. Definition of quality • Quality defined as the combination of two main aspects: • External consistency (adjustment to requirements from disciplinary and professional reference group) • Internal consistency (ability to respond to institutional principles and priorities MJL

11. Quality assurance procedures • Supranational arrangement, promptly rejected • Need to reach an agreement that would allow for mutual recognition of QA decisions • Agreement on a basic set of procedures MJL

12. Quality assurance procedures (2) • All countries agreed to base their decisions on self assessment and external review reports • All agencies would use the standards developed by the expert groups • External review teams must include members from other two Mercosur countries • All external reviewers had to undergo Mercosur training MJL

13. Outcomes • All countries recognize the decisions made by the national agencies • Students from accredited programmes enjoy enhanced opportunities for mobility • Bilateral agreements have been reached leading towards automatic recognition of qualifications of students from accredited programmes • Countries without QA agencies have established their own MJL

14. RIACES Red Iberoamericana para la Acreditación de la Calidad de la Educación Superior

15. RIACES • New network of QA agencies, government organizations, associations of HE institutions, and international organizations • Established in 2003, with participation of Latin American countries and Spain • It received a grant from the World Bank to help its development and the promotion of QA activities in the region MJL

16. RIACES + SPAIN

17. RIACES: two strategic areas areas of involvement • Capacity building of quality assurance agencies, in order to promote their external recognition • Improvement of contents and procedures of agencies in order to promote integration MJL

18. Action plan: Capacity building of quality assurance agencies • Component 1: Development of QA mechanisms within the region • Seminar on good practices for QA • Design and development of a handbook for the self assessment of agencies • Component 2: Establishment of a regional information center • Exchange of experiences and development of common criteria for the assessment of graduate programs, and of distance education • Updating of the RIACES glossary • Component 3: Development of the technical staff of QA agencies • Internships for technical staff in the more experienced agencies within the region • Specific projects for consultancy or advice to benefit the less developed agencies MJL

19. Action plan: Improvement of contents and procedures of agencies • Component 4: Development programs • Workshops for harmonization of criteria on three subject areas: agronomy, engineering, medicine, based on the MERCOSUR experience • Component 5: Training of external reviewers • Participation of reviewers as observers in external reviews for program and institutional accreditation MJL

20. Procedures • International dialogue among QA agencies and other stakeholders: • Shared learning • Adjustment of standards and procedures • Development of mutual trust • QA of accrediting agencies • GGP • Improvement of information systems • Support to QA agencies MJL

21. Final comments • Globalization brings new challenges, that must be anticipated and addressed with a long term and global approach • Networking is essential, for developing trust, for learning together, for building strong constituencies, for standing up together to the globalized world • National systems are essential, but international support makes things more effective MJL