The workshop on Asia pacific Quality Register (APQR) was held on March 23, 2018 at Le Meridian Hotel in Nagpur, India, on eve of APQN Annual Conference (AAC) and Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2018.
Dr. Jagannath Patil, Founder Chairperson, APQR chaired and facilitated the workshop. Prof. Dr. Jianxin Zhang, APQN President made the presentation providing details of APQR and its various aspects.
Dr. Galina Motova, Deputy Director, NCPA, was invited to share her experience of National Center for Public Accreditation (NCPA), Russia undergoing the process of inclusion on APQR.
Dr. Farida Nurmanbetova, Adviser, Eurasian Centre for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Education and Healthcare (ECAQA), Kazakhstan who has worked as the reviewer for the APQR inclusion process for Russian Register (RR), Russia and NCPA, Russia and also shared her experience.
Delegates from about 13 countries attended the workshop. List of participants are attached as Annexure-A. The participants raised various issues and the clarifications were provided by the chair and panelists.
The key issues highlighted during the discussion in the workshop are listed below:
APQR is gaining importance as valued recognition for quality assurance agencies in countries where there is a competitive environment in quality assurance agencies.
Those quality assurance agencies seeking national as well as international visibility, APQR is considered as an added advantage.
Since APQR draws its legal basis and legacy from APQN, it is considered as a good model of service provided by a quality network to its members. After achieving a critical mass, APQR can become independent entity like EQAR retaining its association with APQN.
APQR can take further pro-active role in collaborating with other registers like European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) and recognition bodies like Council for Higher Education Accreditation from USA (CHEA), to facilitate mutual co-operation and recognition as basis of global quality register.
Some of the suggestions for improvement for APQR are mentioned below:
APQR external evaluation guidelines
Competency framework
Professional development programmes for reviewers
Overall the proceedings of the workshop gave positive feedback and impetus for further collaborative actions and development of APQR.
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Dr. Jagannath Patil
Adviser, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)
Immediate Past President, Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN)
Founder Chairperson, Asia Pacific Quality Register (APQR)
jp.naacindia@gmail.com
Report/JP/APQR Workshop/2018