CEENQA General Assembly Meeting and Summary of the Workshop, May 27-28, 2011

The CEE Network held an extraordinary General Assembly on 28 May 2011 in Split, Croatia, for the purpose of founding the new legal entity CEENQA. The annual workshop attached to the annual Steering Committee meeting took place on 27 May.

The meetings were very kindly hosted by the Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE), Croatia. The list of participants to the General Assembly and workshop is attached to these Minutes as Annex 1.

Steering Committee Meeting

The outgoing Steering Committee held its meeting prior to the workshop on 27 May, where it discussed the items on the agenda for the general assembly. The Steering Committee presented its motions to the General Assembly under the appropriate agenda items (see below).

 

Workshop

On the afternoon of 27 May 2011 the CEE Network held a workshop that discussed two topics, “External Reviews of Agencies: Lessons Learned” and “Evaluation of Joint Programs: Challenges for QA Agencies and Recognition of Degrees”. The workshop opened with a welcome by Vesna Dodiković Jurković from ASHE and a greeting from Professor dr. sc. Šimun Anđelinović of Split University. The chair was outgoing President, Aurelija Valeikiene, with invited speakers Nick Harris, David Cairns and Kaja Braathen. As an introduction to the workshop, Christina Rozsnyai presented the results of a short survey on the practices of CEE Network members in relation to the two topics. The outcome was that about 1/3 of the 26 member agencies are or have been involved in external reviews as well as the evaluation of joint programs. Both sessions were followed by lively discussions. The presentations can be accessed at the following lins: Nick Harris, David Cairns, Kaja Braathen.

A sight-seeing tour to Split and a pleasant dinner hosted by ASHE were a perfect ending to a fruitful meeting day.

General Assembly

The general assembly was chaired by CEE Network outgoing president Aurelija Valeikiene. The meeting proceeded according to the agenda sent to members prior to the meeting, a revised version of which was distributed at the meeting. The agenda of the general assembly meeting is attached to these Minutes as Annex 2.

1. Welcome by President

Outgoing president Aurelija Valeikiene welcomed the participants. She also warmly thanked ASHE for hosting the workshop and general assembly.

2. The agenda was accepted by unanimous vote.

3. Financial Report

Christina Rozsnyai presented the financial report, noting corrections to the copies the members had received by e-mail as a meeting document. The financial report with the corrections was approved by members by unanimous vote and is attached to these Minutes as Annex 3.

4. President’s report

The president noted the importance of CEE Network agencies to participate in ENQA events, most notably of agency members to take part in expert trainings and the Network’s visibility in the international arena, which is emphasized by Elisabeth Fiorioli, managing director of our member organization the Austrian Accreditation Council, being a member of the ENQA Board, moreover Iring Wasser (ASIIN), is on the Board of INQAAHE. She also noted the importance of making critical judgments when being invited to associate with international organizations and to ensure that they are reputable.

Further, she explained the legal situation of her agency, SKVC, which prevents it from becoming a member in the new CEE Network. She expressed SKVC’s dedication to the CEE Network, especially considering that it was a founding member of the CEE Network, and proposed a cooperation agreement to continue its presence in the Network in this form until the legal obstacles could be overcome. The membership approved the motion.

The Secretary General reported on the completion of the new CEE Network website.

5. Discussion on new Statutes

Members had received the draft Statutes as meeting documents. Changes were tracked by overhead projector.

It was decided that the new acronym of the network should be CEENQA. An Internet check showed that the acronym was not in use by any other entity. The logo would have to be redesigned accordingly, which would entail a minor fee to be paid as agreed on between the Secretary General and the website designer.

6. Dissolution of CEE Network and transfer of funds

Of the 26 member agencies of the CEE Network, 21 were represented at the general assembly.

Members present agreed to dissolve the existing CEE Network in order to form a new legal entity. Dissolution was approved with 1 abstention.

The transfer of funds from the CEE Network to the new legal entity was also approved with 1 abstention.

7. Adoption of new Statutes and founding act

18 members had declared their intention of signing the new Statutes as founding members, for which they had sent letters of intent to ASIIN, the agency carrying out the legal registration in Düsseldorf, Germany. Representatives who were not the legal representatives of their agency handed letters of authorization to Iring Wasser (ASIIN).

The 18 new members of CEENQA adopted the new Statutes. The founding act of CEENQA was concluded. CEENQA is the successor of the CEE Network (CEEN) founded on October 13, 2001 in Krakow, Poland, and formally established on October 19, 2002 in Vienna, succeeding the Regional Subnetwork of the International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education, established November 19, 2000 in Budapest, Hungary.

The Statutes are attached to these Minutes as Annex 4a and 4b.

9. Setting up Vote-Count Committee.

For counting the votes for Executive Board, President and Vice-President, members named a Vote-Count Committee consisting of Thorsten Schomann, FIBAA and Mojca Ifko Pinosa, SQAA Slovenia.

10. Election of Executive Board

Nominations for Executive Board members were sent to the Secretary General prior to the meeting. The list of nominees is attached to these Minutes as Annex 5.

Considering that according to the Statutes (§13(1)), Board members should be from different countries, Elisabeth Fiorioli (FHR Austria) and Marek Wasowicz (UAC Poland) withdrew their nominations.

In accordance with the Statutes (§12(1)), members voted for the Executive Board by secret ballot. The Executive Board is to have 7 members (Statutes §13(1)). Following the vote, the Vote-Counting Committee counted the ballots. The assembly president announced the new members of the Executive Board as follows:

  1. Alexander Kohler, AQA Austria with 13 votes
  2. Boris Curkovic, HEA Bosnia and Herzegovina with 13 votes
  3. Todor Shopov, NEAA Bulgaria with 16 votes
  4. Jasmina Havranek, ASHE Croatia with 13 votes
  5. Iring Wasser, ASIIN Germany with 17 votes
  6. Mieczyslaw Socha, PKA Poland with 15 votes
  7. Adrian Miriou, ARACIS Romania with 12 votes

11. Election of President, Vice-President and Internal Auditor, appointment of Secretary General

Iring Wasser accepted the proposal by the Executive Board to stand for President and Todor Shopov for Vice-President. Members voted by secret ballot (Statutes (§12(1)).

While the Vote-Counting Committee counted the votes cast, other items on the agenda were discussed.

12. Appointment of a Registered Office (Düsseldorf) and Secretariat (Budapest)

Members voted unanimously to have the registered office of CEENQA in Düsseldorf, Germany and the Secretariat to continue in Budapest, Hungary.

13. Membership fees for full and observer members 2011-2012

Members voted unanimously that the membership fee for full members should be €600 and for observer members €300 for the 2011/2012 year until the next general assembly meeting.

14. Membership applications

Iring Wasser noted that former CEE Network members who did not sign the founding Statutes at this meeting could join CEENQA at any time afterwards by filing a formal application with the Secretary General, who would forward it to the Executive Board and, on its decision, to the members for vote by e-mail (in accordance with Statutes § 14 (2) and §12(3)).

Application for membership from the agency Higher Education Planning, Evaluation, Accreditation and Coordination Council (YODAK) from Northern Cyprus was received prior to the meeting but considering the dissolution of the CEE Network the application could not be presented to the general assembly. It was discussed that CEENQA would consider the application on the merits of the applicant as a quality assurance agency and that CEENQA declares that it is a membership organization that does not consider the political circumstances of an application. Members would receive the application documents and vote by circular mail following the Split meeting.

15. Any other business

– Date and place of 2012 general assembly and workshop

Boris Curcovic (HEA BiH) announced that his agency would like to host the next general assembly and workshop in 2012 in Sarajevo. He will discuss the details with the Secretary General. Members gratefully accepted the proposal.

– Brainstorming on future projects

The legal registration opens the possibilities for CEENQA to apply for international funding for projects. Iring Wasser asked members to make proposals by e-mail for possible projects and cooperations.

– Report on INQAAHE Networks meeting

Iring Wasser, as Board member of INQAAHE, and Boris Curkovic reported on the meeting. The next INQAAHE conference will be organized together with ENQA and will be held 1-2 December 2012 in commemoration of Marjorie Peace Lenn. Boris Curkovic, who attended the Networks session of the conference, noted that the CEE Network was one of the oldest regional networks in the world. Iring Wasser noted the possibility for future funding in the framework of the GIQAC project, whose aim is to strengthen cooperation among agencies in a region, if a second round would be announced.

 

11 (cont.). Election of President, Vice-President and Internal Auditor, appointment of Secretary General

The voting results for Iring Wasser as President: 17 yes votes with 1 abstention; and Todor Shopov as Vice-President: 18 yes votes.

Thorsten Shomann (FIBAA, Germany) was named Internal Auditor by unanimous vote.

Members appointed Christina Rozsnyai as Secretary General with 17 votes and 1 abstention.

The new President thanked the outgoing President, Aurelija Valeikiene, for her excellent work in the past year and expressed his hope that SKVC would join CEENQA as soon as the legal circumstances permit. He also noted that CEENQA would sign a contract with the Secretary General or her agency, the Hungarian Accreditation Committee, to remunerate her work.

The new president noted that he would like Executive Board members to take on specific responsibilities in order to make CEENQA more dynamic and efficient. He would contact the Board members but meanwhile would welcome their suggestions for focus areas.

The president also thanked ASHE for its generous and efficient organization of the general assembly and workshop.

 

Budapest, 6 June 2011

These minutes were prepared by Christina Rozsnyai, Secretary General

Approved by Iring Wasser, President

CEE Network Workshop in Vilnius

The CEE Network held its annual workshop on 30 May. It was perfectly, attentively and thoughtfully hosted by the Lithuanian agency CQAHE. The title was “External Reviews of Agencies: Lessons learned” and Giedrius Viliunas, State Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Science of Lithuania, set the motivating tone of the workshop with his opening words.

Invited speakers were the Director of the hosting Lithuanian agency Eugenijus Stumbrys, who described his agency’s preparations for their external review; Mieczyslaw Socha of PKA Poland, who raised a number of questions agencies should ask themselves when embarking on their review;  the President of ENQA, Bruno Curvale, and the Acting Director of the European Register EQAR Colin Tück, who shared their respective organizations’ experiences with external evaluations; Karl Dittrich, Chariman of NVAO, who gave a thought-provoking presentation about the role of agencies in the European context; Todor Shopov from the Bulgarian agency, who spoke about the external review of the Bulgarian agency; and András Bohák who presented the student view about the external review of the Hungarian agency.

To introduce the discussion, Dhurata Bozo, Director of APAAL Albania, presented the results of her survey on CEEN agencies’ participation in external reviews and their purposes. Very generously, the Albanian agency also produced a “Directory” on CEEN agencies, which may be requested by e-mail from Christina Rozsnyai, CEEN Secretary General (rozsnyai@mab.hu).

 

Please click here for the Program of the workshop and the Minutes of the Steering Committee meeting.

Presentations:

Eugenijus Stumbrys, director, CQAHE, Lithuania

Bruno Curvale, President of ENQA

Colin Tück, Acting Director, EQAR

Todor Shopov, member of standing committee of NEAA, Bulgaria

András Bohák, student member of external team evaluating HAC, Hungary

Karl Dittrich, Chairman, NVAO, the Netherlands and Belgium (Flemish)

Dhurata Bozo, Director, APAAL, Albania

General Assembly and Workshop in Albania, May 23-24, 2008

The Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education held its biennial General Assembly meeting in Durres, Albania on 24 May 2008, with a Workshop on “Cooperation of accreditation agencies towards mutual recognition of accreditation decisions” held on 23 May.

Link to the Programme, Minutes of the meeting and Participants list.

The event brought together representatives from the member agencies, non-members from the Balkan Region and participants from European organizations operating in the field of HE. Information on the event is available on the website at http://www.aaal.edu.al/pagesEN/pages/Conferences_train.htm

St. Petersburg workshop 2007

The CEE Network held its annual workshop and Steering Committee meeting in St. Petersburg 25-26 May. The aim of the workshop was to determine to what extent the region’s QA agencies have adopted the European Standards and Guidelines, or in how far they believe that some of the standards cannot be adopted in full but need to be changed to reflect the region’s specific concerns and practices. An in-depth study – on student involvement in QA and appeals procedures of agencies – will be produced in the coming months.

The Minutes of the Steering Committee meeting can be read here.

 

CEE Network General Assembly and Workshop

The CEE Network held its annual workshop together with its biennial General Assembly on 29-30 May 2006 in Schloss Retzhof near Graz, Austria. Peter Williams, president of ENQA, gave a presentation about that organisation in anticipation of the CEE Network joining ENQA as an affiliate organisation. In addition to CEE Network members, Emmi Helle, ENQA acting secretary general, and Katja Kamsek of ESIB also attended.

The aim of the workshop was to discuss the developments of member agencies toward attaining the European Standards since the CEE Network Survey was taken. The main outcome of the discussions was that all participating agencies meet most of the European Standards, with the greatest deficits being in the area of foreign experts, student participation, independence, and the external evaluation of agencies.

The General Assembly elected Pavol Navrat, Slovakia, as its new chairman and steering committee members Galina Motova, Russia, Ivan Panayatov, Bulgaria, Aurelija Valeikiene, Lithuania (also Treasurer), and Marek Wasowicz, Poland.

The Austrian agency AQA was given full member status, and a formal co-operation with the European Consortium of Accreditation ECA was approved. The General Assembly also voted to draw the limit of the CEE Network at the Ural Mountains.

The minutes and programme can be read by clicking on the links.