Evaluation and monitoring meeting organized with 12 national accreditation agencies
Evaluation and monitoring meeting organized with 12 national accreditation agencies
THEQC organized an evaluation and monitoring meeting with the attendance of THEQC President Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Elmas, THEQC Vice President Prof. Dr. Sibel Aksu Yıldırım, the members of the THEQC Commission on Recognition and Authorization of External Evaluation and Accreditation Agencies, and representatives of 12 accreditation agencies, namely MÜDEK, TEPDAD, FEDEK, VEDEK, EPDAD, HEPDAK, İLAD-İLEDAK, SABAK, TUADER-TURAK, ECZAKDER, TPD and İAA.
The meeting started with the speech of THEQC President Prof. Dr. Elmas. Emphasizing that accreditation agencies are among the most significant stakeholders of THEQC, Prof. Dr. Elmas said that the Council attaches importance to evaluation and incentive works regarding program accreditation in universities. Indicating that the THEQC is continuously in contact with international accreditation agencies, Prof. Elmas also underscored that THEQC’s aim is to establish a simple, universal, useful quality assurance and accreditation system that communicates with every part of the world.
In the meeting, Prof. Dr. Sibel Aksu Yıldırım, the vice president of THEQC, made a presentation, drawing attention to the fact that in accordance with data in the 2019 Annual Situation Report, “student-centered learning” and “monitoring and updating the programs” are leading areas open to improvement. Sharing information about the numbers of and fields of accredited programs, she expressed that the endeavors to enhance the available numbers and broaden the fields are ongoing. Sharing information about THEQC’s accreditation and recognition activities, she provided information about all works and co-operations with international quality assurance agencies (QAA, HCERES, NCPA) and accreditation agencies (AACSB, AQAS, FIBAA).
During the meeting, THEQC member Prof. Dr. İlker Murat Ar made evaluations by sharing quantitative and qualitative data from Thematic Analysis Report he generated from the reports sent by the agencies. Prof. Dr. Ar, who drew attention to the accreditation activities’ strengths and areas for further development, stated that amongst the strong aspects there are raising awareness for accreditation, transparency and informing, creating awareness among internal and external stakeholders and implementation of exchange programs; amongst the areas for further development there are high number of students, differences between state and foundation universities, graduate tracking system, internship practices and career counseling.
In the last session of the meeting, the Council expert Ayhan Koçer introduced the Accreditation Agencies System (AAS) developed by THEQC and provided information about the filing of authorization and registry applications through the system.
The meeting ended by presenting Quality Evaluation Registration Certificate to the Theological Studies Accreditation Agency (İAA) after the representatives of the accreditation agencies shared their opinions, reviews and suggestions.
The presentations made during the meeting are listed below:
