The first edition of the annual European Quality Assurance Forum to be held in the Netherlands will be hosted by the University of Twente this year. This three-day event will take place on the UT campus on 14, 15, and 16 November, and will focus on the quality of higher education. UT will welcome colleagues from higher education institutions in the Netherlands, Europe and further afield (over forty nationalities). This year’s theme: Enhancing education, research and societal engagement through quality assurance.
“In Europe, higher education institutions work on higher education (associate degree, bachelor and master) according to the same quality norms. This is important to enable the exchange of students and staff, as well as European collaboration. We’ve been doing this for many years and that’s also how long the EQAF event has existed. It’s the first time EQAF will take place in the Netherlands after the event was first held in 2005. As UT, we’re very proud of this. During the event, we’ll talk to our colleagues about the quality of education and how to safeguard it together. That’s always been an added value, but now more than ever”, says Merijn Snel, policy advisor education & team lead quality assurance.
The question is how the education sector can maintain the same quality now that it’s confronted with heavy cutbacks. In the Netherlands, the quality of programmes in higher education is high. The quality of education at UT is high as well. This quality is periodically assessed by external experts. The knowledge provided to students is rated at a good level, as fitting for university programmes. Furthermore, UT also pays explicit attention to the application of knowledge, which means our students have a practical mindset. “This isn’t only communicated to us by the assessors. We knew it already because we keep hearing it from companies where our graduates end up.”
At EQAF, we’ll discuss the future of our education and how we can continue to safeguard its quality. This is important, not just for employers working on major challenges, but also – and especially – for our students. EQAF is a unique platform for this debate.
EQAF
EQAF is an annual event organised by four European umbrella organisations. These four organisations represent different parties involved in the quality of higher education: higher education institutions (EUA and EURASHE), students (ESU), quality assurance agencies (ENQA) and governments. “The fact that various stakeholders will be represented makes this an interesting event because different perspectives will allow for a more substantive debate.”
Why at UT?
“We have plenty of space here. For UT, this is an opportunity to show colleagues from the Netherlands and the rest of the world what we do and how we monitor quality. Substantive reflection is central to our approach. We invite independent experts to critically question us about what we do and about the quality we deliver. Our working practice revolves around dialogue. Simply put, we like to have good, open discussions on what’s going well and what can and must be improved. Collaborations are more important than ever, as they present opportunities to overcome the cutbacks we as education institutions are facing. That’s another reason why it’s nice to host EQAF, so we can look at the future together with our colleagues.”
