Developing trust: Towards Mutual Recognition agreements MERCOSUR

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Developing trust Towards Mutual Recognition
agreementsMERCOSUR RIACES
María José Lemaitre Chile
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Requirements for mobility and recognition

• Trust on basic, shared quality requirements
• Quality wide and flexible definitions, able to
  account for different options in HE
• Standards for programmes, institutions and QA
  agencies

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Requirements for mobility and recognition
TRUST

• HE

Mobility
Recognition
STANDARDS
QUALITY
Accreditation
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Trust

• Shared cultural elements
• Quality assurance mechanisms
• Need to develop substantive standards
• Need to establish standards for QA processes

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Quality

• Diversity of HE
• Flexible definition of quality (internal and
  external consistency)
• Legibility of degrees and diplomas
• Qualifications frameworks

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Standards

• Substantive standards contents of teaching and
  learning, clear expected learning outcomes
• Standards for quality assurance processes
  procedures, GGP

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The MERCOSUR experience

• Goal To make degrees comparable in the six
  MERCOSUR countries
• Conditions to respect national sovereignty and
  institutional autonomy
• Need to operate within national QA frameworks

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MERCOSUR
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Standards for accreditation

• Three expert groups, from the six countries
• Expected learning outcomes for three programmes
• Engineering
• Medicine
• Agronomy
• Conditions for operation (management, human
  resources, curriculum development, teaching and
  learning strategies, scholarship, learning
  resources)

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Definition of quality

• Quality defined as the combination of two main
  aspects
• External consistency (adjustment to requirements
  from disciplinary and professional reference
  group)
• Internal consistency (ability to respond to
  institutional principles and priorities

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Quality assurance procedures

• Supranational arrangement, promptly rejected
• Need to reach an agreement that would allow for
  mutual recognition of QA decisions
• Agreement on a basic set of procedures

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Quality assurance procedures (2)

• All countries agreed to base their decisions on
  self assessment and external review reports
• All agencies would use the standards developed
  by the expert groups
• External review teams must include members from
  other two Mercosur countries
• All external reviewers had to undergo Mercosur
  training

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Outcomes

• All countries recognize the decisions made by
  the national agencies
• Students from accredited programmes enjoy
  enhanced opportunities for mobility
• Bilateral agreements have been reached leading
  towards automatic recognition of qualifications
  of students from accredited programmes
• Countries without QA agencies have established
  their own

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Red Iberoamericana para la Acreditación de la
Calidad de la Educación Superior

• RIACES

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RIACES

• New network of QA agencies, government
  organizations, associations of HE institutions,
  and international organizations
• Established in 2003, with participation of Latin
  American countries and Spain
• It received a grant from the World Bank to help
  its development and the promotion of QA
  activities in the region

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RIACES
SPAIN
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RIACES two strategic areas areas of involvement

1. Capacity building of quality assurance agencies,
   in order to promote their external recognition
2. Improvement of contents and procedures of
   agencies in order to promote integration

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Action plan Capacity building of quality
assurance agencies

• Component 1 Development of QA mechanisms within
  the region
• Seminar on good practices for QA
• Design and development of a handbook for the self
  assessment of agencies
• Component 2 Establishment of a regional
  information center
• Exchange of experiences and development of common
  criteria for the assessment of graduate programs,
  and of distance education
• Updating of the RIACES glossary
• Component 3 Development of the technical staff
  of QA agencies
• Internships for technical staff in the more
  experienced agencies within the region
• Specific projects for consultancy or advice to
  benefit the less developed agencies

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Action plan Improvement of contents and
procedures of agencies

• Component 4 Development programs
• Workshops for harmonization of criteria on three
  subject areas agronomy, engineering, medicine,
  based on the MERCOSUR experience
• Component 5 Training of external reviewers
• Participation of reviewers as observers in
  external reviews for program and institutional
  accreditation

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Procedures

• International dialogue among QA agencies and
  other stakeholders
• Shared learning
• Adjustment of standards and procedures
• Development of mutual trust
• QA of accrediting agencies
• GGP
• Improvement of information systems
• Support to QA agencies

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Final comments

• Globalization brings new challenges, that must be
  anticipated and addressed with a long term and
  global approach
• Networking is essential, for developing trust,
  for learning together, for building strong
  constituencies, for standing up together to the
  globalized world
• National systems are essential, but international
  support makes things more effective