INQAAHE Conference 2023 – Astana (Kazakhstan)

Roadmap to Enabling Quality in Tertiary Education 2030

 29 May – 1 June 2023, Astana (Kazakhstan)

Proudly hosted by the Independent Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (IQAA)

INQAAHE Conference 2023 was sponsored by KazMunayGas, a platinum sponsor, the Education & Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC), a gold sponsor, Astana Development, a bronze sponsor, and Kazakh Tourism.

The INQAAHE Board sought expressions of interest from member agencies to host INQAAHE Conference 2023 by the end of 2020. Considering the venues for the INQAAHE annual events for the last ten years, preferences for hosting the INQAAHE Conference 2023 were given to Central, East and Southeast Asia; South America and the Caribbean; North America and Francophone Africa. During the 2021 General Assembly Meeting in June, the INQAAHE members voted for Conference 2023 to take place in Astana (Kazakhstan), hosted by the Independent Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (IQAA).

INQAAHE Conference 2023 was sponsored by KazMunayGas, a platinum sponsor, the Education & Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC), a gold sponsor, Astana Development, a bronze sponsor, and Kazakh Tourism.

All Conference materials are available below.

Conference Workshops

1. Flexible Learning Pathways (FLP) in Higher Education – What Challenges and What Solutions for External Quality Assurance (EQA) Agencies? facilitated by Dr. Michaela Martin, IIEP-UNESCO Programme Specialist
2. INQAAHE’s International Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education (ISG), facilitated by Dr. Susanna Karakhanyan, INQAAHE Immediate Past President; and Dr. David Woodhouse, INQAAHE Founder and Former President
3. Developing a Training Program for Evaluators and Team Leaders, facilitated by Dr. Michael K. J. Milligan, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, ABET
4. Quality Assurance for Digital Learning Environments: Strengthening QA Systems in Higher Education at Regional, National, and Institutional Levels to Ensure Academic Quality and Student Success, facilitated by Dr. Yaping Gao, VP Member Services & Global Partnership, Quality Matters; Dr. Deb Adair, CEO Quality Matters & INQAAHE President; and Mr. Bowen TAN, Programme Specialist, UNESCO ICHEI

Day 1

Theme 1: Fostering quality of flexible learning pathways

• Independent lifelong learning system through credit-hour accumulation and its quality assurance, presented by Prof. MORI Rie, Professor, National Institution for Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement of Higher Education (NIAD-QE), Japan
• Preparing Hong Kong for the journey of developing micro-credentials, presented by Dr. Christina Ng, Senior Registrar (Development), Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic & Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ), Hong Kong
• Short Learning Programmes: a flexible pathway to access tertiary education, presented by Dr. Esther Huertas, Head of Quality Assurance Department, (AQU Catalunya), Spain
• One Path is a Narrow Journey, presented by Dr. Michale S. McComis, Chief Executive Officer, Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC), USA

Theme 2: Digitalization of teaching and learning without compromising quality

• Development of new quality assurance guidelines for online learning, presented by Dr. Bryan Maguire, Director of Quality Assurance, Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), Ireland
• Hybrid-Teaching in Hong Kong Higher Education Under COVID-19 Pandemic: Quality of Teaching and Learning, presented by Zhuang Seraya (National Chengchi University, Taiwan), China
• The Use of Learning Analytics in HEI, presented by Mag.ª Diane Freiberger, Managing Director, Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA), Germany
• Hallmarks of Success Playbooks: Enhancing quality of digital teaching and learning, presented by Dr. Lia Blaj-Ward, Associate Professor, School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, and Amrita Narang, Quality enhancement and standards specialist, QAA, UK
• Quality Assurance in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: Challenges, Opportunities and Approaches, presented by Miras Daulenov, Chairman of the board – President of the Narxoz University, Kazakhstan
• Embracing the Digital Frontier: Balancing Innovation and Quality in Teaching and Learning for Academic Excellence, presented by Sergey Pen, Provost (Rector) of Maqsut Narikbayev University (KAZGUU), Kazakhstan
• Evaluation of Challenges for the accreditation and oversight of Third-Party Ed-Tech Providers, presented by Ms. Perliter Walters-Gilliam, President and Principal Consultant, NBBE Consulting, USA; and Ms. Kimberlee Moore, Doctoral Candidate, University of Liverpool, UK

Day 2

Theme 3: Quality assurance of cross-border education

• Policy transformation in China’s Transnational Higher Education: Quality assurance and impacts, presented by Ziwei ZHOU, Lingnan University, Hong Kong SAR; National Chengchi University, Taiwan
• Did the Value of Joint / Dual Degree Programmes via Virtual Delivery Getting Lesser During the Pandemic?, presented by Prof. Angela Yung-Chi Hou, Associate Dean, College of Education, National Chengchi University, Taiwan
• Hong Kong Branch Campuses in Greater Bay Area: Motivations, Quality assurance, and Impacts on Higher Education Regionalization, presented by Christopher Hongyi Tao, Lingnan University, Hong Kong SAR; National Chengchi University, Taiwan
• Internationalisation of quality assurance vs. quality assurance of internationalisation: a typology of quality assurance activity in an internationalised context, presented by Dr. Fabrizio Trifiro, Head of Stakeholder Engagement and International Quality Reviews, Ecctis/UK ENIC UK
• Quality Online Course Sharing for Cross-Border Online Education, presented by Dr. Yaping Gao, VP Member Services & Global Partnerships, Quality Matters (QM), USA
• Quality Assurance for Digital Learning Environments: Strengthening QA Systems in Higher Education at Regional, National, and Institutional Levels to Ensure Academic Quality and Student Success, presented by Mr. Eduardo Ramos, Director of International and Professional Services, The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), UK

Theme 4: Core values and quality of higher education

• Quality assurance dysfunctions, within ‘integrity’ INQAAHE value, presented by Dr. Martin Boswell, Registrar, Wellington Institute of Technology and Whitireia Community Polytechnic, New Zealand
• Towards a new future for quality assurance in higher education in South Africa, presented by Dr. Whitfield Green, Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Britta Zawada, Director, Institutional Audits, Council on Higher Education (CHE), South Africa
• The relationship between national values of the society, higher education system and chosen form of independent accreditation in Kyrgyz Republic, Presented by Onolkan Umankulova, (EdNet Kyrgyzstan)
• Analysis of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Practices at Canadian Publicly Funded Community Colleges: Toward Student Success, presented by Dr. Hayfa Jafar, Director Institutional Effectiveness – American University of Iraq, and Dr. Oleg Legusov, International Student Advisor, Seneca College, Canada
• The importance and urgency of embedding education for sustainable development (UNESCO 2030) into accreditation standards and quality assurance practices, presented by Dr. Scott G. Blair, Director of Accreditation and Quality Assurance at AIAASC, USA, Vice President of CANIE-Europe (AIAASC/CANIE)
• Fostering the equity agenda in quality assurance: the development of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) indicator system in Catalonia, presented by Dr. José Luis Mateos-González, Senior Advisor, Internationalisation and Knowledge Generation Department, AQU Catalunya, and Dr. Anna Prades, Head of Internationalization and Knowledge Generation Department AQU Catalunya, Spain
• Quality Assuring, but at what cost?, presented by Dr. Karen Belfer, Executive Director, Ontario College Quality Assurance Service (OCQAS), Canada
• Academic Integrity and ENQA quality assurance agencies: where do we stand and where are we headed?, presented by Drs. Yvonne Overdevest, Senior Policy Advisor NVAO (Netherlands) and member of ENQA’s working group on academic integrity, and Ms. Sue Hackett, QQI (Ireland) and Chair of ENQA’s working group on academic integrity

The compilation of all papers presented during INQAAHE Conference 2023 is available here.

Conference Poster Presentations

All Conference posters are available here.