Quality Agency for Higher Education hosts the progress visit by European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education

On 29th May 2020 the progress visit by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) took place. The purpose of the visit was to discuss the progress of Quality Agency for Higher Education (AIKA) since the review by ENQA in February 2018.

The progress visit took place in an online mode with participation of two external experts from the original ENQA panel who assessed AIKA in 2018 – Heli Mattisen, the director of the Estonian Agency for Quality Assurance of Higher and Vocational Education (EKKA) and Karena Maguire, the Head of Stakeholder Engagement for Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI).

The experts met with the Director of Academic Information Centre Mrs Baiba Ramiņa, the Head of AIKA Mrs Jolanta Silka and AIKA staff, including the staff members who have joined AIKA after the ENQA review in 2018.

During the visit AIKA staff introduced the experts to the main changes that have taken place since the visit – in AIKA structure and in external and internal regulations – as well as outlined the actions that have been taken to implement the recommendations by the ENQA panel.

The progress visit provided the possibility to discuss the main challenges that AIKA is currently facing, including the introduction of a cyclical institutional quality assessment model, the organisation of the Study Quality Committee’s work in increased intensity, performing quality assessment procedures abroad and organisation of quality assessment procedures in online mode.

The ENQA experts commended the achievements of AIKA and highlighted AIKA’s preparedness for the progress visit, the discussion topics elaborated in advance and the quality of discussions. ENQA experts praised the involvement of AIKA in the development of the cyclical institutional quality assessment system in Latvia and emphasised the necessity of AIKA to have a crucial role in it. ENQA experts highlighted the actions taken by AIKA to overcome the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and recognised that the decision of AIKA to postpone the visits with involvement of international experts but continue the visits with participation of Latvian experts only, is optimal in order to ensure the continuity of quality assessment processes.

In June 2020 AIKA will submit the report about the implementation of expert recommendations from the ENQA review in 2018. The progress of implementing recommendations will be assessed during the next ENQA review of AIKA in 2023.