THEQC President Prof. Kar Attends the International Forum on Quality Assurance in Higher Education Organised in Azerbaijan

ANKARA – Prof. Muhsin Kar, the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (THEQC) President, attended the International Forum on Quality Assurance in Higher Education organised by the Azerbaijani Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (TKTA) on May 5-6, 2022.

Organised in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, the Forum focused on internal and external quality assurance in higher education, the development of research performance, and the connection of HEIs with the labour market.

Ulkar Sattarova, TKTA Executive Board Chair, made the opening speech of the Forum in which panels where the representatives of quality agencies from Latvia, the UK, Holland and Kazakhstan delivered speeches and workshops attended by HEIs representatives from Azerbaijan were organised.

President Kar made evaluations about current discussions on external evaluation and accreditation and THEQC’s related practices and then answered questions at the ”The Effect of External Quality Assurance Mechanisms on the Development of Quality Culture” panel moderated by Prof. Olgun Çiçek, the Vice President of the Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (CEENQA).

THEQC President Kar and the representatives of other invited countries’ quality agencies visited Emin Amrullayev, the Minister of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and negotiated with the Minister about issues related to quality assurance in higher education.

President Kar exchanged views with the representatives of other quality agencies and evaluated the collaboration opportunities on the second day of the event.

THEQC President Prof. Kar paid visits to related authorities in Azerbaijan and attended a special and comprehensive meeting with Idris Isayev, the Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Prof. Olgun Çiçek, the CEENQA Vice President, and Ulkar Sattarova, the TKTA Director-General, on quality assurance in Azerbaijani higher education. Stating that THEQC is ready to cooperate and act in solidarity with the fellow country Azerbaijan for all kinds of experience-sharing and collective learning activities, Prof. Kar also noted that the Council is ready to support such activities.

Prof. Kar visited Azerbaijan Technical University upon Rector Vilayet Valiyev’s invitation and delivered a speech on what quality assurance is, why it is necessary, and what kind of challenge it is at the meeting with the attendance of academicians from different universities.

President Kar lastly visited the Baku Eurasian University, the Azerbaijani partner of the Symposium on Turkic World Research that was held when he was rector of Ömer Halisdemir University in Niğde. President Kar shared experiences and exchanged views with Rector Prof. Nazım Hüseyinli, and Vice-Rectors Nigar Hüseynova, Siyavuş Qasımov and Gülizar İbrahimova on quality assurance.