Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA) delegation, on 6,7 and 8 March 2024, visited the institutions and stakeholders involved in the quality assurance (QA) of higher education in Helsinki and Tampere, Finland. The main purpose was to learn about good practice and discuss the experience in QA.

Finland has had decades of tradition in quality enhancement of the research universities and universities of applied science through auditing and a range of other approaches. FINEEC is the Finnish counterpart to KAA and was the main host of the study visit. KAA director Naim Gashi and president of the KAA State Council on Quality Hasnije Ilazi proposed cooperation between the two agencies.

One of the identified cooperation potentials is encouraging the Finnish experts to apply for becoming the evaluators in the KAA external evaluation teams.

The study visit extended to the Finnish student unions who actively participate in the QA processes, mainly by delegating their representatives to the working groups and decision-making bodies both at the level of universities and the national level. Student perspective on quality is an important element of Finnish quality culture.

KAA delegation also visited the leadership and the QA management staff at the University of Helsinki and University of Tampere. The hosts presented their experience and good practice in the organization of internal QA at the universities.

The Kosovar delegation extended the invitations to Finnish professors to speak at the KAA annual international conference in September 2024. In this way the relevant Finnish experience will be shared also with the higher education community in Kosovo.