The Agency for Science and Higher Education can be admitted to full European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) membership, confirmed the ENQA General Assembly on October 7th 2011 in Bucharest, Romania.
Full membership in the European institution which gathers all main quality assurance organisations in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is an important international success and a confirmation of the reliability of the national agency’s activities.
The full membership is primarily an outcome of the years-long work of ASHE in developing a legal, professional and administrative platform for developing a quality assurance system in the Croatian higher education and science. These efforts were recognized by an international review panel, presided by Professor Seamusa Puirseil, former president of the Irish Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) and ENQA. The panel implemented the external review of ASHE and produced the final report in August 2011, assessing ASHE with the best grades. The report stated that ASHE meets all standards included in the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area, which is a formal condition for full ENQA membership.
In a wider context, ENQA membership will positively affect the mobility of Croatian higher education teachers, researchers and students. It should also encourage the international recognition of the quality of Croatian universities, polytechnics, colleges and research institutes, and help position our higher education system on the international level.
ENQA was established in 2000 with the aim of fostering cooperation and establishing a quality dialogue among national quality assurance agencies, and guaranteeing the quality of their work on the international level. Currently ENQA has 24 full member agencies, mostly from the European Union. It is important to mention that ASHE is the first agency in the region to become a full member of this European association.