HOW TO MOVE TOWARDS ENQA MEMBERSHIP?-MACEDONIAN QUALITY ASSURANCE AGENCY AGAINST ENQA EUROPEAN STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Massification of higher education (HE), the entrance of new Public Management agenda and internationalization and globalization of HE prompts an increased pressure for accountability and the need for intensified quality control (Van Vught and Westerheijden 1994, Woodhouse and Stella 2006, Hopbach, 2012). In the context of expanded (state and private) higher education providers, the national quality assurance (QA) bodies, policies and practices are expected to play an important role in safeguarding the HE quality.
This paper assesses the conformity of policies and practices of the Macedonian Higher Education Accreditation and Evaluation Board (HEAEB) with the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) for Quality Assurance (QA) on external QA Agencies released in 2005 by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA). Discussing HEAEB progress against ENQA membership criteria linked to its official status, activities, use of external procedures for QA, resources, mission, its independence and accountability procedures, it answers the question how close HEAEB is to achieve full membership. The multivariate analysis showed partial compliance at five and non-compliance at three of the total of eight ENQA standards, suggesting significant discrepancy between tasks prescribed under the HE Law and the HEAEB practices. HEAEB has not assumed yet the role for performing external evaluation of HEI, whereas ex-ante, paper–based and input oriented accreditation of higher education institutions and study programs proved to be ineffective. The research findings suggest lack of internal transparency and accountability procedures, no legal entity status and unfavorable situation with human and financial resources. This puts in question the operational independence of HEAEB and its efficiency. The paper provides recommendations for improved HEAEB effectiveness and achievement of full compliance.