2010 APQN conference and Annual General Meeting
 APQN organized a conference and Annual General Meeting which took place on 3-5 May 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand.
The theme of the conference was Enhancing Quality of Higher Education in the Developing world. The event had the following objectives:
- to highlight current challenges and issues of QA in HE,
- to share good practices in QA of institutions and QA agencies,
- to enhance regional cooperation amongst QA agencies, and
- to share a regional vision on quality in HE.
A group of researchers of Yunnan University (China) presented the results of their case study on the evaluation subject of four QA agencies in Asia-Pacific countries (China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand). They proposed the following types of organisations within QA systems: unitary (service), cooperative (auditorial), directive (mandatory). Distinctive features of each of the types, as well as classification of evaluation modes and possible ways of further development were introduced to the conference participants. 
Various instruments and tools of quality assessment within HEIs, in particular, students’ evaluation of teachers (SET), were discussed. There was an active debate about purpose and relevance, strengths and weaknesses of SET illustrated by case studies of Belgian and Australian universities.
The following questions were also covered at the conference: national qualification frameworks, student outcome assessment systems, HEI rating methods, methods of transnational and alternative education, etc.
The Russian project “International Open Internet Olympiads” aroused special interest of the participants as they considered the project to open new opportunities for implementing modern technologies enhancing quality of education. Besides, the project was found an effective instrument for selecting talented young people so then they could receive grants to support their studying abroad.
 The conference format included the Annual General Meeting open to all QA-agencies-APQN members. APQN President Concepcion Pijano (Philippines), Vice-Present Dorte Kristofferson (USA), and Secretary-Treasurer Jiang Yanqiao (China) presented their reports to the GM. All participants present agreed that APQN’s activities were highly effective in 2009.
For further information on the event please see the jîurnal Accreditation in Education, no 38, 2010. |
