Project SMEQA: An International conference on accreditation was held

An International conference on key principles and elements of the model of external evaluation in institutional and programmatic accreditation was held on 2 and 3 December 2024 at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Banja Luka (FPN UNIBL).

It was an event organized within the project „Strengthening Capacities and Mechanisms for Enhancement of Quality Assurance System in Higher Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina“ (SMEQA). The Vice-Rector for human and material resources, prof. Dalibor Kesić, PhD, participated on behalf of the UNIBL, while the Rector, prof. Jusuf Duraković, PhD, participated on behalf of the University of Zenica.

As could be heard at the conference, the Republic of Srpska Agency for Higher Education (AVORS) and the BiH Agency of Higher Education and Quality Assurance (HEA BiH), might apply for the membership in European Association for Quality Assurance in Education (ENQA) by the end of 2025.

Board member of the Association, Péter Levente Lakatos, stressed that the main goal for both these agencies is to become full members of ENQA.

„In order to achieve that, it is important to fulfil all the standards and education guidelines at the European level, as prescribed by the European Association. We noticed that the Agencies are fully dedicated to this goal“, said Lakatos.

The director of the BiH Agency of Higher Education and Quality Assurance, Prof. Enes Hašić, PhD, said that BiH's membership in the European Association for Quality Assurance would mean that it has improved the quality of its overall higher education system.

The document „Report on Analysis of Quality Assurance in Bosnia and Herzegovina “ was presented during the event, along with the presentation of external quality assurance in Croatia and Slovenia.

What is SMEQA?

It is an Erasmus project, coordinated by the University of Zenica, gathering 19 partner institutions and the University of Banja Luka is one of them.

The goal of this project, lasting three years, i.e. until 2026, is strengthening capacities and mechanisms for the enhancement of the quality assurance system in BiH, to implement the Standards and guidelines for quality assurance in the European higher education space (ESG), as one of the key preconditions for full membership in European associations for quality assurance in higher education, ENQA and EQAP, and integration of BiH higher education into the European space of higher education.

Photo: D. Desnica