The launch of the EU funded Twinning project “Strengthening Institutional Capacity for Quality Assurance“ was officially marked  at a kick-off event held in Banja Luka on 8 October 2013. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to increased mobility and employability of the labour force through improvement of the quality of higher education institutions in line with the Bologna Process. The project purpose is to improve and strengthen human resources and institutional capacities for quality assurance in higher education.

This project  is  a partnership between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Austria and it is funded by the EU under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA 2011) in the amount of 1 million Euro.
    
The kick-off event in Banja Luka gathered representatives of all competent ministries of education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, higher education institutions and student associations. The event was opened by Mr Adnan Husić, Assistant Minister in the Sector for Education of the BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ms Jadranka Mihić, Program Manager for Health and Education in the Operations Secton, EU Delegation to BiH.
 
Dr. Husein Nanić, Director of the BiH Agency and the Project Leader in the Beneficiary Country said that, by signing the Bologna Declaration, Bosnia and Herzegovina has accepted a common European policy in higher education with all the commitments contained therein, where the establishment and further development of quality assurance system is essential. The key goal of this project is implementation of the European standards and guidelines in the higher education system in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dr. Nanić pointed out.
 
The representative of the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria and  the Project Leader of the Member State, Mr Alexander Kohler, stressed the importance of the project for Austria in the sense of establishment of regional partnership and mutual learning. „This includes a temporary secondment of one representative of the Austrian Agency to Banja Luka, namely Dr. Marie Weber, who will work as a full time Resident Twinning Adviser (RTA) in the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of BiH   for the duration of the project“, said Kohler.

The Twinning project „Strengthening Institutional Capacity for Quality Assurance“ consists of four components: analysis of the legal provisions in BiH, strengthening capacity of the Agency, application of quality management system at higher education institutions and providing support in the organization of external evaluations of higher education institutions and study programmes.

The main partner for the project implementation is the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of BiH, while other partners are the BiH Ministry for Civil Affairs, entity and cantonal ministries of education, the Education Department in the Government of Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Agency for Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions of the Republic of Srpska and higher education institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  On behalf of Austria, the project will be implemented by the Agency for European Integration and Economic Development (AEI), while the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria (AQ Austria) will provide the appropriate expertise during the two years of project implementation, in cooperation with relevant experts.  

The project has duration of 24 months, starting from 13 September 2013 until September 2015.

To learn more about the Bologna process click here