Changes in Accreditation procedures in Slovenia Act Amending the Higher Education Act (ZViS-G) - held on 20 th October 2009

In March 2010 the Council for Higher Education of the Republic of Slovenia shall be replaced with the Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (SQAA) as its successor. - The Government of the Republic of Slovenia shall establish the Council for Higher Education of the Republic of Slovenia as a consultative body (new establishment of the Council from March 2010); - The Republic of Slovenia shall establish a Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education as a body governed by public law for quality assurance in higher education and for development and advisory work in the field for which it was established. The Agency is independent in its operation. It is bound by the principles of professionalism, impartiality, legality, and political neutrality. The Agency is a direct non-governmental budget user. The Secretariat of the Council for Higher Education of the Republic of Slovenia shall cease its work with 28 th February Employees, employed on that day at the Secretariat of the Council for Higher Education of the Republic of Slovenia, shall continue working in the Agency under the same labour law conditions.

Organisation of the Agency The Agencys bodies are: Agency Council, composed of 11 members, appointed for 6 years, student representatives are appointed for a period of two years (The present Council has 24 members and the President appointed by the Government, three Senates and 13 regional Commissions) Director (appointed for 5 years by the Agencys Council) Appeal Committee (consist of three members with each member having their deputy; all of them appointed by the Agencys Council based on a public invitation for a period of 4 years), The Appeal Committee shall decide on appeals against decisions of the Agencys Council in accreditation procedures of higher education institutions and study programmes. The Appeal Committee shall also decide on appeals against decisions of the Agencys Council on issuing consent to changes of higher education institutions and changes to study programmes and on issuing consent to contracts for conducting transnational higher education. Present Council is the appealing body for any decisions made on Senate level. Expert Groups for accreditation and evaluation procedures (before the suitability of the applications has been discussed in Senates Commissions and Senates) Who may not be appointed as a member of the Agencys Council? University rectors and pro-rectors, deans, members of university senates, members of the senates of universities or independent higher education institutions and directors of university members and other independent higher education institutions or other organisations active in the field of higher education, and principals or directors of vocational colleges may not be appointed as members of the Agencys Council.

The Accreditation procedure (first accreditation): Meeting the requirements for conducting higher education activities and for the quality of HEIs and study programmes shall be reviewed through accreditation and external evaluation procedures. Accreditation types in higher education are: first accreditation of higher education institutions that are being established and study programmes, extended accreditation of higher education institutions and study programmes.

The Accreditation procedure (decision making): After receiving the complete application for a first accreditation of a HEI or study programme, the Agencys Council shall appoint a group of experts. The expert group shall prepare a report at the latest within three months from submission of a complete application. The report on meeting the criteria for the first accreditation of a HEI shall be sent directly to the Agencys Council, while the report on meeting the criteria for the first accreditation of a study programmes shall be sent to the Agencys Council and to the applicant for comment. In case of first accreditation of the HEI the site-visit is obligation, in case of first accreditation of the study programme the expert group shall conduct the site-visit should this be necessary for full assessment of the actual state of affairs. All decisions shall be made within three months after the report is prepared.

The Accreditation procedure (decision making): In the first accreditation procedure the Agencys Council may: award accreditation of the higher education institution or study programme for a period of seven years, reject the application for accreditation of the higher education institution or study programme.

The Accreditation procedure (accreditation extension ): The accreditation extension procedure for a HEI or a study programme shall start with external evaluation and end with the decision on accreditation extension. Beginning of the procedures based on the HEI submition of an application for an accreditation extension procedure for the HEI or the study programme (before based on written application from Governmental, Ministry, Senate, etc.). The application for extension of accreditation must be submitted by the higher education institution at least a year prior to expiration of the accreditation period. - The first and each extended accreditation of HEIs and study programmes are valid for a maximum of seven years (as before). - After receiving the complete application for a first accreditation of a HEI or study programme, the Agencys Council shall appoint a group of experts (composed of at least three members and have to include at least one foreign expert and one student).

The Accreditation procedure (accreditation extension - evaluation): One of the conditions for external evaluation was/is that the higher education institution must issue diploma documents. In case of first cycle study programmes, that means after 3 or 4 years, and second cycle after 1 or 2 years. With the Novelty of the HEA the extension of accreditation shall start with external evaluation (that means 6 years after first accreditation) and end with the decision on accreditation extension,. Because of the relatively large number of accreditated study programmes in 2007 and 2008, the concentration of external evaluations performed in 2013 and 2014 will be rather high. External evaluation types are: evaluations of higher education institutions and implementations of study programmes, extraordinary evaluations of higher education institutions and implementations of study programmes.

The Accreditation procedure (accreditation extension ): During the accreditation extension procedure, the Agencys Council shall make one of the following decisions: it extends the accreditation of the higher education institution or the study programme for a period of seven years, it extends the accreditation of the higher education institution or the study programme for a shorter period, which shall be no longer than three years, (if any deficiencies are identified in the operation of the higher education institution or in the implementation of the study programme and shall impose a deadline on the higher education institution for remedying these deficiencies. After the deadline expires, another evaluation shall be carried out, based on which the Agencys Council shall decide on accreditation) it does not extend the accreditation of the higher education institution or the study programme.

The Accreditation procedure (re-application for the first accreditation): In case of a rejection of the application for accreditation the applicant may re- submit the application for the first accreditation of that HEI after the lapse of two years after the submission of the Agencys Councils decision. In case of rejection of the application for accreditation of a study programme, the higher education institution may re-submit the application for the first accreditation of that study programme after the lapse of one year after the submission of the Agencys Councils decision.

The Accreditation procedure (extraordinary evaluation): The Agencys Council shall decide on external evaluation procedures and accreditation extensions for higher education institutions or study programmes. Extraordinary evaluation shall be conducted according to the same procedure as the external evaluation, based on the extraordinary evaluation the decision on extending the accreditation shall be made as well.

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