ENQA Workshop Outcomes of the Leuven/Louvain-la- Neuve ministerial conference and expectations on the future of QA The role of QA in the coming decade from the stakeholders perspective Andrea Blaettler, ESU 3 rd of June 2009, Brussels

Introduction Bologna Process has lead to higher compatibility and comparability of the systems of higher education, European cooperation in QA has played a significant role In order to further increase trust, transparency and recognition and enhance mobility, the ESG must be strengthened and further implemented and the EQAR more widely promoted.

Leuven Ministerial Communiqué improvement of the teaching quality of study programs and development of student centered learning opportunities introduction of lifelong learning as an integral part of the education systems -> QA systems need to adapt, goal: overall quality of the higher education system should be enhanced

Concern and action needed concern on decreasing priority of QA in the upcoming decade of the Bologna Process and the strong promotion of other so-called transparency tools that merely focus on a restricted set of indicators ESU agrees that transparency is of utmost importance -> further enhancement of European QA cooperation, namely the conduction of both program and institutional evaluations as the key instrument

Bologna with Student Eyes 2009 ESG: awareness and ownership of the ESG amongst national student students begin to trust national QA agencies considerably in terms of the enforcement of the ESG Concerns raised by half of the unions: Lack of objectivity in external evaluations ESG as a pile of standards, not treated equally Lack of coherence between chapters

Bologna with Student Eyes 2009 Suggestion: general stakeholder discussion on a possible reevaluation of the ESG should be held, focusing on the question on how to best achieve objective review processes all over that aim at helping HEIs to enhance internal QA systems Student Participation: Increased generally ESU presidency of EQAR executive board accreditation and audit procedures: 50% of the student unions as equal or important partners

Bologna with Student Eyes 2009 Setting up of European Student Experts pool on QA But: still not equal partners all-over: Internal QA: a third of the student unions cannot participate at all or have very little opportunities for that QA agency governance, in 62% of the cases, students are not sufficiently involved at all

Bologna with Student Eyes 2009 EQAR: student unions generally greatly support the register and its concepts behind Need for further consolidation Need for inclusion of mobility as a standard

Conclusion ESU looks forward to contributing to the upcoming challenges for quality assurance in the decade after Leuven QA as key element for providing transparency on higher education throughout the EHEA, including life long learning and especially focusing on a high teaching quality of programmes and student centered learning.

Conclusion discourse on how best to further enforce the ESG and to strengthen the tool of EQAR within the year of ESUs presidency of the EQAR Executive Board through the setting up of a quality assured student expert pool on quality assurance, guaranteeing highly knowledgeable students as a core element of a successful quality assurance systems post Leuven