Standards and guidelines for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)

Quality assurance agencies in higher education and science are important because they ensure that institutions meet established standards of excellence, transparency and accountability. They encourage continuous improvement of teaching and research processes and strengthen public confidence in the value of acquired qualifications and academic achievements.

Agencies carry out various external quality assurance activities to achieve different objectives. These include evaluations, reviews, assessments, accreditations and other similar activities at the program or institutional level, which can be carried out in different ways. When agencies also carry out other tasks, it is necessary that external quality assurance activities are clearly separated from other areas of work. In the Republic of Croatia, such an agency is called the Agency for Science and Higher Education (AZVO).

The standards and guidelines for agencies are collectively developed in these seven groups: activities, quality assurance policies and procedures, official status, independence, thematic analyses, resources, internal quality assurance and professional conduct, and periodic external evaluations of agencies.

Standards and guidelines for agencies are only mentioned because they are not usually dealt with by VU teachers, but if you wish, you can read about them in more detail at link.