The ACSUG participated in a European Union Tempus project related to the Central Asian Network for Quality Assurance and Accreditation (CANQA).
The Tempus projects are part of a European Union program that has the objective of promoting the development of higher education systems. To accomplish this aim, cooperation is established among member states of the European Union as well as with countries in other parts of the world, in order to share information and experiences in the area of higher education.
The ACSUG is aware of the importance of establishing links and contacts with other organizations and associations, and it therefore decided to become actively involved in the Tempus project in relation to the Central Asian Network for Quality Assurance and Accreditation (CANQA). This project had a 3-year duration (2009-2011) and included the participation of representatives from the countries of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
The fundamental objectives of the CANQA project included:
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Providing participants with a series of parameters, standards, and guidelines on internal and external quality assurance for higher education.
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Developing and supporting the Central Asian Network for Quality Assurance and Accreditation (CANQA).
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Creating a register of information for Central Asian accreditation methods and systems.
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Developing information centers for academic recognition within the accreditation agencies.
As part of this project, during the week of June 29 to July 3, 2009, 15 representatives from the countries mentioned above attended a training seminar held at ACSUG headquarters. At this seminar, which was organized in collaboration with the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), a variety of themes were covered, including European standards and guidelines for higher education and internal and external quality assurance procedures and systems. The main activities carried out by the ACSUG were also discussed.
Following this event the ACSUG also participated in the international conference entitled “Modernization of Internal and External Quality Assurance Systems in Higher Education in Central Asia”, held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan from December 14-16, 2009. At this conference there were workshops, that included various types of training activities, as well as tracking of the project for the year 2009 and planning for the activities to be carried out in 2010.
The next annual review meeting for the project was held from November 19-21, 2010 in the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan. At this meeting various activities where planned , including a presentation on the ACSUG's experienceswith external quality assurance and accreditation processes. Review and tracking were also performed for the project during the year 2010 and the actions to be performed were planned for 2011, the final year for the project.
This project was then extended until 2012, a year in which the ACSUG participated in the Pilot Project for Accreditation in Central Asia, an activity carried out as part of the CANQA project.
The ACSUG participated in evaluation of the following universities in Tajikistan:
- Khujand State University.
- Tajik State University of Commerce in Dushanbe.