Ideas and experiences were shared at the annual joint seminar of Baltic assessment agencies

The joint annual seminar of the Baltic assessment agencies for higher and vocational education took place in Võrumaa on 7.-8. September. Colleagues learned about the experiences as well as plans of agencies from the other Baltic states and discussed topics that are important for the agencies.

EKKA, who was hosting the agencies of the three states this time, had in cooperation with colleagues from other agencies chosen the following key topics for the seminar: the objectives and procedures of assessments and their relevance for the educational institution under evaluation, how to ensure consistency and comparability of assessment results and what should be the principles for the selection and supporting of assessment experts. On top of that, one of the key questions was how to further improve cooperation with the educational institutions under evaluation and offer them more added value. There was agreement on the fact that as the quality culture of the educational institutions increases, the role of the assessment agencies will decrease as well as the burden of external assessments for the educational institutions.

All participants could unleash their fantasy to predict in which form, if at all, higher education would be assessed in 2030. There was consensus on the fact that the nature of conducting studies as well as assessments is going to change, but only time will tell whether the predictions of participants will materialize or not.

Colleagues representing assessment of vocational education and training took the opportunity to visit the  Valga County Vocational Education Centre on the second day of the seminar.

Participants from the following agencies participated at the seminaril:
NASE – National School Assessment Agency, Lithuania
SKVC – Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education, Latvia
SEQS – The State Education Quality Service, Latvia
AIKA – Higher Education Quality Agency, Latvia
EKKA – Eesti Kõrg- ja Kutsehariduse Kvaliteediagentuur, Estonia

The seminar was concluded by stating that there is enough to learn from the other Baltic agencies and the next joint seminar will be held next year in Latvia.