Nacionalna agencija Republike Slovenije za kakovost v viskoem šolstvu - NAKVIS Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency of Higher Education - SQAA presented by Mojca Ifko Pinosa Regional Conference “APPROACHING TO ENQA MEMBERSHIP AND HOW TO BE LISTED IN THE EQAR “ Sarajevo, 12 May 2010

Higher education in Slovenia In Slovenia process of bologna reform is completed. We have 687 study programs. We have: 3 State Universities University of Ljubljana3 Academies +23 Faculties University of Maribor1 Academy + 17 Faculties University of Primorska1 College + 6 Faculties 1 Private University University of Nova Gorica 2 Colleges + 5 Faculties 1 Private Academy 14 Private Faculties 21 Private Colleges 1 international alliance of universities

Number of Students Number of studentsFull timePart time Public Incorporated Private

Accredited Study Programs Number of Bologna study programs 1st cycle321 2nd cycle276 3rd cycle90 Total687

System of quality assurance in higher education The key institution for quality assurance is Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency. The Agency is established by the Amending the Higher Education Act (ZViS-G) (Official Gazette of the RS, nos. 86/2009) 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 Agency shall, by public authority and based on the HE Act, regulate legal relationships and decide in individual matters. In carrying out these tasks, the Agency issues: – general legal acts for the implementation of public authorities that shall be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, – individual administrative acts for decisions on individual public law matters.

The Agency’s bodies are: –Agency Council, –Director and –Appeal Committee.

The Agency has the following tasks – managing the quality assurance system in higher and vocational education, – setting procedures and criteria for external evaluations and accreditations and sets other criteria and rules, – defining minimum standards for awarding titles to higher education teachers, researchers and faculty assistants at higher education institutions, – conducting external evaluations of higher education institutions, study programmes and vocational colleges, – performing accreditations of higher education institutions and study programmes, – giving consent to changing higher education institutions and study programmes, – establishing and updating an experts’ register, – appointing expert groups for external evaluations and accreditations as well as organizing and participating in their training,

– officially publishing the Agency’s decisions, evaluation reports, annual evaluation and accreditation reports and Agency’s reports and analyses, which have to be transparent and accessible, – managing the public register of accredited higher education institutions and study programmes, – cooperating with higher education institutions and vocational colleges, providing them with advice and promoting self-evaluations, – cooperating with international institutions or bodies for quality assurance in higher education, – ensuring that the Agency operates in accordance with the EU directives and international principles of quality assurance, – collecting and analysing reports on self-evaluations and external evaluations of higher education institutions and vocational colleges, – performing development tasks in assurance of quality in HE.

Composition of the Agency’s Council The Agency’s Council is composed of 11 members : – three members are appointed by the Rector’s Conference, – one member is appointed by the representative association of independent higher education institutions, – one member is appointed by the representative association of vocational colleges, – two student members are appointed by the representative student organisation in cooperation with students’ councils, – one member is appointed by the representative employers’ associations based on an agreement, – one member is appointed by the representative unions from the field of higher education, based on an agreement, – two members are appointed by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, based on a public tender; one from among the experts in higher education or quality assurance in higher education who study or work in the Republic of Slovenia, and one from among the experts in higher education or quality assurance in higher education who study or work abroad.

Agency’s Council The Agency’s Council is the highest ranking body decision making body of the Agency. Members of the Agency’s Council shall work professionally, autonomously and independently, and in their work they shall not be bound by decisions, position statements and instructions of the institutions that appointed them or any other institutions. In carrying out their tasks and in their decision making, members of the Agency’s Council adhere to the principles of preventing a conflict of interests and the principle of impartiality. For this purpose, they shall sign a special statement with which they shall be bound to honour the principles defined in this article.

Members of the Agency’s Council Members of the Agency’s Council are appointed for a period of six years. Student representatives are appointed for a period of two years. A student’s mandate expires prematurely if he or she loses the status of a student. Individual members may be reappointed, however no more than twice in a row. The Agency’s Council’s chairperson and his or her deputy are elected by members from among themselves. At the beginning of their mandate, members of the Agency’s Council take part in expert training in the field of agency’s work, organised by the agency.

Who can not be a member of the Agency’s Council The following may not be appointed as members of the Agency’s Council: university rectors and pro-rectors, deans, members of university senates, members of universities or independent higher education institutions, 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.

The tasks of the Agency’s Council The tasks of the Agency’s Council are: – appointing and relieving the agency director, – appointing and relieving appeal committee members and their deputies, – setting procedures and criteria for external evaluations and accreditations, ECTS and other criteria, – setting procedures and criteria for external evaluations of vocational colleges, – setting the minimum standards for awarding titles to higher education teachers, researchers and faculty assistants at higher education institutions and vocational colleges, – deciding on accreditations of higher education institutions and giving consent to changes of higher education institutions, – deciding on accreditations of study programmes and giving consent to changes of study programmes, – setting the criteria for entry of experts into the register of experts for external evaluations and accreditations,

– appointing groups of experts for external evaluations and accreditations, – setting the procedures and criteria for quality assurance in Agency’s operations and for external evaluation of the Agency in accordance with the European standards, – defining forms and conditions for transnational higher education, – monitoring European guidelines and international principles pertaining to quality assurance in higher education, – participating in preparation of a draft financial plan of the Agency and giving consent to the work plan and report on work and operation, – performing other tasks in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the constituent instrument. The Agency’s Council adopts decision by means of a majority vote of all members.

Accreditations and External Evaluations Meeting the requirements for conducting higher education activities and for the quality of higher education institutions 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 (hereinafter: first accreditation of higher education institutions) and study programmes, – extended accreditation of higher education institutions and study programmes. The first and each extended accreditation of higher education institutions and study programmes are valid for a maximum of seven years. If the decision on extending the accreditation is made prior to the deadline for which the previous – the first or the extended – accreditation was awarded, the validity deadline of the accreditation starts again. It is considered that the accreditation’s validity expires at the end of the academic year, during which the approved accreditation period expires. 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.

First Accreditation After receiving the complete application for a first accreditation of a higher education institution or study programme, the Agency’s Council shall appoint a group of experts. The expert group shall prepare a report on meeting the criteria for the first accreditation of a higher education institution or the first accreditation of a study programme at the latest within three months from submission of a complete application. The report on meeting the criteria for the first accreditation of a higher education institution shall be prepared by the expert group based on the submitted documentation and the inspection of the premises where the higher education institution will perform its activities. In case of a first accreditation of a study programme, the expert group shall conduct an inspection of premises where the higher education institution will carry out its study programme, should this be necessary for full assessment of the actual state of affairs. In the first accreditation procedure the Agency’s 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.

Accreditation Extension The accreditation extension procedure for a higher education institution or a study programme shall start with external evaluation and end with the decision on accreditation extension. The procedure for conducting an external evaluation of a higher education institution or a study programme is initiated by the Agency, however, it may also be proposed by the higher education institution. It shall be carried out by an expert group appointed by the Agency’s Council. The self-evaluation report by the higher education institution, the final evaluation report by the expert group and any comments by the higher education institution on the evaluation report shall be submitted to the Agency’s Council at the latest within seven days from the preparation of the final evaluation report. Based on the received documentation, the Agency’s Council shall decide on accreditation extension of the higher education institution or the study programme at the latest within three months from reception of the documentation.

During the accreditation extension procedure, the Agency’s 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, – it does not extend the accreditation of the higher education institution or the study programme.

Results achieved so far in the area of external quality assurance We have independent Agency for evaluation and accreditation. Procedures and criteria for external evaluations and accreditations and sets other criteria and rules are in progress and will be defining and confirm by Agency’s Council by the end of June 2010 Minimum standards for awarding titles to higher education teachers, researchers and faculty assistants at higher education institutions are in progress and will be defining and confirm by Agency’s Council by the end of June Conducting external evaluations of higher education institutions, study programmes and vocational colleges is in progress - 1st expert training on May 11th 2010.