Quality Assurance Agency in the Republic of Moldova PhD Nadejda Velico, Head for higher education department, Ministry of Education Ministry of Education, Republic of Moldova

Agenda  The Moldovan Higher Education System  New National Agency for Quality Assurance in the Professional Education  Next steps

HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

The Moldovan Higher Education System  32 Universities ( 19 public and 13 private) students cycle I - license ( bachelor) students cycle II (master s Degree studies) 28,1 % students on public budget 71,9% students – tuition fees  292 students per inhabitants  76 graduates per inhabitants  6100 – teachers 2174 – teachers- part time 2958 ( 36% ) – PhD(doctors degree) 542 (6,5% ) doctors habilitat STUDENTS Avg. investment of 18,556 MDL( 1000 Euro)/stude nt

Number of students and graduates per 10 thousand inhabitants

Professional development  The higher education system in the country ensures the preparation of specialists in about 203 specialties.  The distribution of students on fundamental domains is the following: Education 17,2% Humanitarian Sciences and Arts 5,6% Social Sciences, Economy and Law 33,0% Sciences 5,9 % Engineering, Processing Technologies, Architecture and Constructions 28,2 % Agriculture 2,10% Medicine 3,2% Services 4,8%

National Context ( Bologna process from 2005)  Structure of higher education – similar to the European one (Bachelor-Master-Doctorat ( Cycle I-Cycle II-Doctorat)  New Nomenclature of domains and specialities for higher education ISCED97 and EUROSTAT  New generations of study plans were developed, elaborated in accordance with the Plan-frame; analytical programs were revised  ECTS implementation -100% in all institutions and all programs  Implementation of the Supliment to the Diploma -100% to all graduates in Romanian and English languages  Clasificators of specialties and study programs in accordance with ISCED97  Created on each university own management structures of quality  Development of National Qualifications Framework

THE QUALITY ASSURANCE AGENCY

External quality assurance (QA) New accreditation act approved by the Parliament (in October 2013) regarding the establishing the Moldovan QA agency Name of the new QAA – National Agency for Quality Assurance in the Professional Education (NAQAPE) Is an administrative authority of national interest, acting as a legal entity autonomous to the Government, independent in its decision, organization, and budgetary planning, and funded from the state budget and its own revenue.

Main responsibilities of a new Agency  To assess, on contractual basis, the institutions providing professional training programs, as well as their programs for the purpose of provisional operation authorization, accreditation, and reaccreditation in vocational/technical, higher, and continuous education.  The quality assessment refers to: a) institutional capacity; b) educational efficiency, including academic outputs; c) quality of initial and continuous professional training programs; d) institutional management of quality; e) results of scientific research and/or artistic creation; f) compliance between internal evaluation and real situation.

Coordination Council of Agency  The Coordination Council consists of 15 members with didactic positions in teaching and scientific research in higher education and research – innovation – development institutions, of which there is a student representative and a spokesperson of the organizations representative of the business community.  The members of the Governing Board are not allowed to hold any public official position or be rectors.  The President and the Vice President of the Coordination Council are elected by the Board from its members.  The members of Coordination Council will be approved through a Government Decision.  The selection of the members will be assisted by the international expert, from QA Agency, member ENQA.

Agency structure  Three departments, as follows: 1. for external evaluation in higher education 2. for accreditation in higher education 3. for evaluation and accreditation in VET  Total: 45 members

Interim Coordination Council NAQAPE  Interim Coordination Council will create the necessary conditions for Agency operation : - Regulation for members selection - Selection of members - Government Decision by the end of May 2014  Responsibilities of the Interim Coordination Council, as follows : - Regulation of the Agency - Development of methodological tools for the evaluation and accreditation process - Selection of new members in the Coordination Council etc.

Next steps  Approval of the Regulation of Agency  Approval of evaluation methodology and quality standards for evaluation and accreditation  Training of the commissions of experts  Launching of evaluation and accreditation process in January 2015