On 2nd December 2016 there was a holding of the international conference "Accreditation as an instrument for quality assurance in education" organized by the Accreditation and Nostrification Office under the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan Republic.
The aim of the conference was to discuss the issues related to quality management, exchange of knowledge and cutting edge experience on the creation of effective systems of quality assurance, as well as the consideration of opportunities for further cooperation. The event was attended by the Minister of Education of Azerbaijan Republic, members of parliament, heads of higher education institutions, representatives of international quality assurance agencies, as well as local and international education experts.
In the framework of the conference, the plenary session included the presentations of the Minister of Education of Azerbaijan Republic M.Jabbarov, Vice-President of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences I.Habibbayli, President of the Independent Kazakh Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (IQAA) Sh.Kalanova, acting head of the Department of Accreditation and Nostrification of the Ministry of Education Samir Valiyev, Director of the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement Tamar Sanikidze, Director of the the Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance and Career Development (AKKORK) E.Soboleva, as well as the Head of the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre and Vice-President of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) Helka Kekäläinen.
President of IQAA, Professor Kalanova Sh. made a presentation on the topic: “Development of national quality assurance systems in transition: Experience of Kazakhstan”. Professor Kalanova was invited directly by the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan Republic to share successful experience of IQAA on the implementation of the independent accreditation in Kazakhstan. In the beginning of her presentation, Professor Kalanova presented the data on the dynamics of the development of the system of higher education in Kazakhstan and the process of integration into the international educational area. The main part of the presentation by Kalanova Sh. was focused on the stages of establishment of the independent accreditation in Kazakhstan, creation and development of the agency, as well as the experience of the agency on the realization of quality assurance procedures. At the end of her presentation, Professor Kalanova also highlighted the main challenges for the system of quality assurance and learned lessons on the development of the independent accreditation in Kazakhstan. The presentation made by Professor Kalanova quicken the interest and raised a lively discussion among the participants of the conference.
At the second part of the conference, Professor Kalanova conducted a seminar together with the Senior Advisor of the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre K. Isoaho and moderator of the panel session, Head of Chemistry Faculty, Baku State University, on the topic «Selection and Training of the Evaluation Experts».
More information about this event is available on the official website of the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan Republic http://edu.gov.az/ru/page/9/13311
