Romania

Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS)

Contact Information

Street name: B-dul Mărăști Nr. 59, sector 1
Postal code and City: 011464 Bucharest
Country: Romania
Phone/Fax: +40 21 206 7600/ +40 21 312 7135
E-mail: secretariat@aracis.ro
Website: www.aracis.ro
Presentations:
External evaluation of doctoral studies
Analysis of external evaluation of doctoral studies
Contact person: Simona Lache
Function of contact person: Director of Accreditation Department
Founding year: 2005
Legal status: Autonomous public institution of national interest, legal entity with own income and expenses budget
International Links and membership: EQAR, ENQA, INQAAHE, ENAEE

Cooperation agreements with NEAA (Bulgaria), NCPA (Russian Federation), ANACEC (Rep. of Moldova)

The Agency was legally established in 2005, by the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 75/2005 on Quality Assurance in Education, approved by the Law no. 87/2006, with subsequent amendments and completions. The agency is an autonomous public institution of national interest, legal entity with own income and expenses budget.

ARACIS is led by a Council of 21 members – 17 academics, two students, representatives of the Romanian Students Federations (Unions), one representative of the employers’ federations and one representative of the trade-union with the highest number of members in higher education. Five of the Council members are Executive Board members, of whom two members serve as President of the Council and Vice-president. The agency has at present a staff of 34 permanent employees. ARACIS uses External evaluators (academic staff, international evaluators, students, employers). Academics are registered in the National Register of ARACIS Evaluators – NRE; from the academics listed in the RNE, the Council selects and appoints the members of the 13 Permanent (standing, subject-specific) Specialty Commissions. Students represent the main Students’ Federations (Unions) active in Romania with a legal status and are registered in the National Register of Evaluators – Students and are represented and involved in the activity of the agency at all levels, including one student representative in each of 13 Permanent Specialty Commissions. Employers are registered in the National Register of ARACIS – Employers.

ARACIS’s mission is, according to the Law, to assess the quality of the study programs (SPs), master study domains and higher education institutions (HEIs) as well as to contribute, together with the HEIs, to a continuous enhancement of quality. The agency is also aiming at contributing to the development of an institutional culture of higher education quality. ARACIS has the obligation to periodically develop/up-date its Methodology and external evaluation/accreditation standards for different types of programs and higher education providers, aiming to “to assess based on standards and methodology approved by Government Decisions, upon request or of its own initiative, and to propose the authorization, respectively the accreditation of higher education providers and their study programs. On the basis of the accreditation reports, the Ministry of Education and Research elaborates the normative acts for the establishment of higher education structures”.

According to the conclusions of the ENQA coordinated review (2018), ARACIS complies with ESG 2015 and continues its registered status in the EQAR until 2023. At present, ARACIS is involved in several national and international projects aiming at enhancing its methodologies, including evaluation of Bologna third cycle (doctoral) studies, engaging a broader range of stakeholders in external evaluation, addressing gender equality.