About the CANQA project

Project implementation period: October 2009 – June 2012

Funding: Tempus Program

Project budget: 424,222 euros

Number of project consortium members: 7 European partners, 22 Central Asian partners, Ministries of Education and Science of 3 Central Asian countries

The long-term goal of the project:

Development and implementation of quality assurance systems and culture of quality in higher education in Central Asia

Goals and objectives of the project:

1. Formation and development of a group of experts from the universities of Central Asia - members of the Project Consortium;

2. Development of a methodological and regulatory framework for internal and external quality assurance systems;

3. Establishment and development of Quality Assurance and Accreditation Centers in each participating Central Asian country

4. Creation based on the Centers and development of the Central Asian Network for Quality Assurance and Accreditation (CANQA)

5. Research, analysis of materials and self-evaluation and external evaluation within the Consortium

In 2009, the project of the Tempus program - CANQA - "Central Asian Network for Quality Assurance and Accreditation" began its work in Central Asia, the purpose of which was to develop and implement quality assurance systems and a culture of quality in higher education in Central Asia. Project partners from countries such as Belgium, Poland, Spain, Holland, France, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan have been working on important tasks for the countries of the Central Asian region for 3.5 years to develop internal and external quality assurance systems. The project appeared on time in the educational system due to the relevance of improving the quality of education and developing an independent accreditation system in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. For example, the EdNet Association, as a regional project coordinator for Central Asia, based on the results of the project, initiated a bill on the introduction of an independent accreditation system in Kyrgyzstan, which was adopted, and since September 2014 this system has been officially introduced despite some delays in the development of regulatory -legal documents.

The project began its work with the formation of an intellectual group of experts within each partner institution to develop an analysis of existing models for quality assurance, and develop a methodological framework on this issue, based on the EFQM model. Thus, the partner universities of the project in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan have revised and implemented internal quality assurance systems within their educational institutions through the development of relevant methodological documents and guidelines for each university.

As part of a three-year project, the experience of the European Union countries on accreditation was studied, based on which experts developed standards and criteria for accreditation, as well as procedures for conducting self-assessment in each university and conducting accreditation itself by independent bodies. The CANQA project was the first project that brought together the countries of Central Asia to study not only foreign but also joint experience in quality assurance systems. As a result, the first independent accreditation agency was established in the Kyrgyz Republic - the Agency for Quality Assurance in Education "EdNet" in Kyrgyzstan, and in Tajikistan - the Independent Accreditation Agency at the Center for Progressive Technologies, which conducted 4 pilot accreditations with the participation of experts from Poland and Spain, as well as from among the expert group of the project for Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. As a result of the event, the program "World Economy" of the Tajik State University of Commerce was accredited for 5 years and received a certificate of accreditation of the international project and the program of the Khujand State University. Safarova received conditional accreditation for 2 years, with the possibility of an extension if all the recommendations developed to improve some of the educational processes of the university are implemented. In Kyrgyzstan, the EdNet Agency conducted the first independent accreditation of the programs of the Kyrgyz Economic University under the programs "Economics" and "Management" and the Osh State University under the program "Economics".

Thanks to these pilot accreditations, in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan it was possible to test the standards and criteria for accreditation, which were developed within the framework of the project and were based on ESG (European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance) and the experience of such accreditation agencies as NVAO and ACSUG.

The project and its results are still very relevant for the Central Asian region, and are actively used not only in other projects aimed at improving the quality of the higher education system but also the experience gained is a basic component for the formation of both the expert intellectual potential of countries on quality assurance and accreditation and the formation of an appropriate regulatory framework.

Another important final result of the project was that all participants of the final conference of the project approved the CANQA network - the Central Asian Network for Quality Assurance and Accreditation with a structure that included representatives of the consortium members. The participants of the project determined the aspects and strategy of the network development. In addition, Manuals and compendiums on internal and external quality assurance systems, which were developed by several project experts during the 3.5 years of the Tempus project, were presented and distributed. From a longer and more sustainable perspective, the CANQA network should become a platform for discussing issues such as creating a register of accreditation agencies in Central Asia and developing Central Asian standards for external quality assurance.

During the period of the project, a lot of work has been done to develop, and improve the criteria, procedures, and conditions for internal and external quality assurance of higher education in the countries of Central Asia (the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Tajikistan) based on the experience of European partners in the framework of the Bologna Process. And, even though the project ended in June 2012, these developments have relevance to this day. Additional information is also available on the website of one of the members of the EURASHE consortium at the link: https://www.eurashe.eu/projects/canqa/

The creation of our Agency for Quality Assurance in the field of education EdNet was one of the most important results of the project, and since the closure of the CANQA project, today the Agency is a successful independently developing organization in the Kyrgyz market, which has established itself as a professional and competent body on the quality assurance system, promotion and implementation of the true principles and procedures of independent accreditation, and the development of specialists in these aspects.