The Quality Assurance Forum was co-organized by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), the European University Association (EUA), European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE) and the European Students’ Union (ESU). It took place on 19–21 November 2015 in London to mark ten years since the introduction of the ESG and five years since the formal launch of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Hosted by the British Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and University College London Institute of Education, the Forum was also attended by the representatives of the Agency for Science and Higher Education.
The Forum brings together stakeholders in the higher education process engaged in quality assurance, including stakeholders involved in the quality of education at higher education institutions, agencies, state administration bodies and student representatives. The conference was organized as a series of plenary sessions, parallel plenary sessions, workshops and presentations on various topics. This year the Forum was attended by about 650 participants from all EU Member States and beyond.
The two-day conference focused on the revised and amended version of the Standards and Guidelines (ESG) adopted by ministers at a conference held in Yerevan. Participant focused mainly on the first part of the ESG related to the internal quality assurance, especially the amendments of the standards related to Student Centered Learning, systematic gathering of information and information management. Another important topic of discussion was quality assurance in cross-border higher education, especially the quality assurance of joint programmes. The participants also discussed the document „European Approach for QA of joint programmes“ adopted at the Ministerial Conference.
The participants discussed the achievements made in the implementation of the Bologna goals, future priorities, as well as predictions about the future of quality assurance in higher education. They also talked about the EUA’s publication „Trends 2015“ and ESU’s publication „Bologna with Student Eyes“.