The Croatian Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE) has been positively assessed by an international external review panel, as stated in the report of the panel, currently in the process of finalising the external review of ASHE’s work, confirming the international reliability of ASHE’s activities.
The draft report of the international review panel, submitted this week for comments to ASHE, states that ASHE meets all the standards listed in the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area. The assessment of ASHE’s work will serve as a basis for application for full ASHE membership in the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), to be officially submitted in the autumn of 2011.
The report puts emphasis on the fact that ASHE, although one of the youngest institutions in the system, has managed within this short period to successfully build a legal, professional and administrative platform as a basis of the national quality assurance system in science and higher education. The professionalism and knowledge of the ASHE staff and management have been specifically mentioned in this context.
“Such highly esteemed international confirmation of the ASHE reliability surely opens up new perspectives for the Croatian science and higher education. We expect this confirmation to serve as a motivation for the whole system”, said the ASHE director, Professor Jasmina Havranek, PhD.
The international panel implementing the external review was presided by professor Séamus Puirséil, former president of the Irish Higher Education and Training Awards Council and the former ENQA vice-president. The panel visited ASHE in June 2011 and discussed ASHE activities not only with ASHE staff and management but also with the representatives of Croatian scientific organizations and higher education institutions, international and Croatian experts, representatives of the business community, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, the National Council for Higher Education and the National Council for Science, the Rectors’ Conference, the students unions, etc.