Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA) and the Project Higher Education, Research and Applied Sciences Plus presented the Guidelines for External Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions and Study Programmes, an Induction and training Manual developed to provide practice-based guidelines to the international evaluation experts assigned to conduct an external evaluation of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Kosovo on behalf of the Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA). The Manual is vital as the Agency will use it to provide experts with formal training in relevant topics of the accreditation process and contextual understanding of the Higher Education landscape and related processes.

HERAS Plus Project supported the Manual development, which constitutes one of the agreed support activities that are part of the MoU co-signed in November 2020 between two parties with the aim to support the capacity building of KAA and fulfill the required criteria for the return of Kosovo Accreditation Agency in The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA).

KAA Director, Naim Gashi, said that launching of this project directly affects the quality of the services of the Accreditation Agency for external evaluation of higher education institutions, but also meets one of the criteria for our return to ENQA and EQAR.

“With this product, the Heras Plus Project and Austrian donors are contributing to quality assurance in higher education in Kosovo. The guidelines for external experts participating in the evaluation process in Kosovo, increases the quality of our services, explains in detail to experts the KAA standards and the Kosovar context”, said Gashi.

Gashi thanked the HERAS+ project, the main donor; the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), Ministry of Education and Sciences, as well as other respective partners of the implementing Consortium, for financing a project of such great importance for the Accreditation Agency, as well as for the higher education system in Kosovo.

The Team Leader of HERAS Plus project, Aqim Emurli, said that the support provided for the KAA in the development of the Manual, which is being promoted today, is a continuation of the contribution of HERAS Plus Project in supporting higher education in Kosovo.

“It is also an indicator of the commitment of donors and project implementers in the field of overall institutional advancement of the KAA, but also of Kosovo’s European agenda in the field of higher education. At this stage, the main focus of the Project, in terms of activities related to KAA, remains the commitment to return KAA to the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA)”, said Emurli.