58 participants from 23 countries participated in this seminar, organised by the Polish State Accreditation Committee in collaboration with the Polish Ministry of National Education and Sports. The majority of the participants were representatives from quality assurance/ accreditation agencies. Ministries, partner organisations and higher education institutions were also represented.

General Rapporteur was professor Włodzimierz Siwiński and Mieczysław W. Socha from the Polish State Accreditation Committee.

The Seminar focused on experiences in quality assurance in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Spain.

The discussions showed that there has been a major development in quality assurance and accreditation since the beginning of the Bologna Process. They also showed that the speed and direction of the development were somewhat different from country to country. There are major challenges in mutual recognition of degrees and study programs.

Participation of major stakeholders was also discussed. The discussions showed, for instance, that there were major differences concerning what would be seen as adequate student involvement. The seminar did not manage to bring the discussion on this item to any conclusion.

Although not unanimously, the seminar participants recommended that:

1. Mutual recognition of education and diplomas can be supported by mutual acquaintance of quality assurance systems. Mutual recognition of accreditation decisions should be encouraged.
2. As a necessary condition of building an agreement between participating countries of the Bologna Process, it should ensure and provide for:
   • regular, mutual sharing of information about education and accreditation systems, o mutual visits, joint training of experts,
   • promotion of mutual mechanisms of recognition,
   • promotion of similarities in higher education systems.
3. The national system of accreditation should apply for all higher education institutions established within each country. Preference should be given to accreditation committees or agencies established or recognised under the laws of the state. A higher education institution might apply for accreditation from an accreditation body from outside the country. This external quality assurance can be accepted and recognised if the external accreditation body is recognised by national authorities.

The EU Commission had reservations concerning the third recommendation, advocating that higher education institutions should have the freedom of choice of accreditation agency as long as the agency chosen is listed in the European Register of Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agencies.

Source: General Report to the Bologna Follow-Up Group to the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education - Bergen 19/20 May 2005
Bologna Process between Berlin and Bergen

Related documents

Seminar on Cooperation between accreditation committees/agencies - Warsaw 2005

Recommendations
General report
Programme
Participants

Presentations and speeches (in order of appearance)

• “General view on accreditation and evaluation activities in European countries”, Don F. Westerheijden, Center for Higher Education Policy Studies, University of Twente, the Netherlands
• “Cooperation in accreditation within the European Higher Education Area: the case study of ANECA (Spain)”, Francisco Marcellán, National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation, Spain
• “Accreditation: shift of paradigm of quality assurance in Germany”, Angelika Schade, Accreditation Council, Germany
• "The Dutch Accreditation System: Expectations and Results", Mark Frederiks, Netherlands-Flemish Accreditation Organization, the Netherlands
• "A brief outline of accreditation and evaluation activities in Norway", Oddvar Haugland, The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education, Norway
• “Qualifications Framework and Re-Accreditation – The Irish Experience”, Séamus Puirséil, Higher Education and Training Awards Council, Ireland
• “Quality assurance system in the Czech Republic”, Milan Sojka, Accreditation Commission, Czech Republic
• “Bulgarian National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency approach to quality assurance in higher education – recent developments”, Ivan Panayotov, National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency, Bulgaria
• Panayotov - Speech
• “Accreditation practices in France: a powerful tool for improving quality in engineering education”, René-Paul Martin, C.T.I. Commission des Titres d’Ingénieur
• “The Polish State Accreditation Committee – series of activities”, Andrzej Jamiołkowski, the Polish State Accreditation Committee, Poland