HAKA-NAQA project on Enhancement of Higher Education Quality in Ukraine
From May 2024 to December 2025, HAKA and the Ukrainian National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance (NAQA) implemented a joint project aimed at the developing and testing a model for institutional accreditation of higher education institutions in Ukraine. The institutional accreditation model developed throigh the project was designed to comply with the European standards and guidelines (ESG) while taking into account the Ukrainian higher education context.
In 2025, the model was piloted in three higher education institutions in Ukraine, which had submitted applications and were selected to participate in the pilot accreditation. HAKA and NAQA staff organised self-evaluation trainings for the institutions involved in the pilot process. Three assessment panels, composed of both Estonian and Ukrainian experts, were formed; they conducted either onsite or hybrid (onsite + online) visits to the institutions and prepared assessment reports. Finally, accreditation decisions were made by the HAKA Quality Assessment Council for Higher Education.
Participation in the pilot accreditations provided several benefits for the institutions involved:
- The institutions gained experience in international institutional accreditation.
- Institutional representatives received training from HAKA and NAQA.
- The institutions received feedback and recommendations for developing their internal quality assurance systems.
- The institutions had the opportunity to benchmark their internal quality assurance systems against the ESG 2015 standards.
- Institutions that complied with the institutional accreditation standards received official institutional accreditation from HAKA.
Project activities and timeline
Institutional accreditation guidelines
Assessment Report Template (Word document)
The project is supported by ESTDEV – Estonian Centre for International Development Cooperation