News and Events

Future trends in QA in the European Education Area

Dr Daire Keogh, director of Quality Assurance, facilitated a plenary session at the European Quality Assurance Register Members Dialogue at the Austrian Ministry for Higher Education, Vienna, on 22 Nov. 2011. Attended by key policy makers, including representatives from the European Commission, governmental representatives, the European University Association and the European Students Union the seminar discussed ‘Future trends in QA in the European Education Area’. Discussion ranged from contemporary understandings of QA, to the implications of the process for recognition, strategic planning, funding and university rankings. Members were anxious to emphasise the vital social dimension of education and the importance of QA in facilitating the creation of a European knowledge society.

Daire Keogh Vienna Nov2011

Updated: November 24, 2011.

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Quality Assurance: Teaching Practice tutors, supervisors and their training

The St Patrick’s College IA Department hosted the annual conference of the Comenius Association, the European network of Teacher Training Institutes (28-30 September, 2011). Included in the ambitious programme was a workshop on ‘Quality Assurance: Teaching Practice tutors, supervisors and their training’. This broad debate presented comparative perspectives and valuable insights into the role of external examination and the importance of transparency and consistency.

Amongst those attending the seminar: Naomi Kelly (Belgium), Helen Sutherland (UK), Kia Kimhag (Sweden), Araceli Ballesteros Garcia (Spain), Brigitte Bruschel (Austria) and Daire Keogh, director of QA, St Patrick’s College.

From left: Naomi Kelly (Belgium), Helen Sutherland (UK), Kia Kimhag (Sweden), Araceli Ballesteros Garcia (Spain), Brigitte Bruschel (Austria) and Daire Keogh, director of QA, St Patrick’s College.

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IUQB publishes summary report on the types of information that prospective students require on university and other websites

The publication presents findings based on research conducted with Second Level Students and Career Guidance Counsellors throughout Ireland.

Read the IUQB report in full.

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Publication of Qualifications and Quality Assurance
(Education and Training) Bill, 2011

**Read the Bill in full
**Bills Digest

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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2011 RECIPIENTS OF A
QUALITY PROMOTION AWARD

[Full details]

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Review of European Quality Assurance Standards
and Guidelines

qpweb11

Dáire Keogh, director of Quality Assurance at St Patrick’s College has been nominated by Education International to the advisory board assisting the MAP-ESG project in reviewing the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) in the European Higher Education Area.

Since their publication in 2005, the ESG have contributed greatly to the consistency and transparency of Quality Assurance procedures in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). They have fostered a common understanding of QA and form the basis for the periodic reviews of Higher Education Institutions in the 46 countries which make up the Higher Education Area.

Five years on, the MAP-ESG project has embraced an ambitious task of measuring this achievement and identifying possible improvements in the composition and communication of the Standards and Guidelines. The project is directed by a steering committee, composed of representatives of the E4 Group (the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, the European University Association, the European Students Union and the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education).

The Advisory Board consists of the most important stakeholders closely involved in the consultation and dissemination phases: EQAR, Education International, Business Europe and three national Bologna Follow-up Group representatives from Norway, Slovenia and Spain.

The MAP-ESG project will furnish its report to the Ministers of Education of the Bologna signatory countries at the Bucharest Ministerial Conference in 2012.

Further details are available from the ENQA website.

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