INQAAHE Talks on May 31, 2024

Quality Assuring the Professions: the Role and Responsibilities of Accreditation Agencies

May 31, 2024 (Friday)
13:30 – 15:00 CEST/UTC+2

Online (via Zoom)

Please join us for a fascinating discussion about the roles and responsibilities of accreditation agencies in the landscape of quality assurance. In this session, we will explore how agencies responsible for discipline-specific program quality assurance and the regulation of professional licensing deal with issues of scope, creation and maintenance of standards and best practices, links with the labor market, links with international communities and norms, professional credential recognition practices, and links to jurisdictional QA practices. 

A wide range of professional accreditation practices is represented by Business (Mag. Diane Freiberger, MBA, of FIBAA in Germany), Engineering (Daniela Iacona, CAE, of ABET in the USA), Teacher Education (Dr. Whitfield Green of CHE in South Africa), and Medical Education (Prof. Dr. Titi Savitri Prihatiningsih of Gadjah Mada University, Faculty of Medicine in Indonesia). INQAAHE Board Director Dr. Sylvia Demas will chair this interactive session to explore the unique aspects of discipline-specific accreditation practices and understand the important role they play in ensuring high-quality education provision.

Daniela Iacona, CAE

Daniela Iacona is the Director for International Engagement and Governance at ABET, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that accredits college and university-level programs in the disciplines of applied & natural sciences, computing, engineering, and engineering technology worldwide.

Ms. Iacona has supported ABET’s mission for twenty years and has played a key role in the development and implementation of its global operations plan. Ms. Iacona currently oversees all of ABET’s international initiatives, including its engagement in mutual recognition agreements, memoranda of understanding, and global outreach and collaboration activities.

In her dual role, Ms. Iacona is also responsible for managing all activities related to the governance of ABET. In this capacity, she is responsible for leading all Board of Directors, Board of Delegates, four Area Delegations and affiliated Council and Committees’ operational functions.

Ms. Iacona earned her Master of Global Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management and baccalaureate in International Studies from Old Dominion University. She has also earned ASAE’s Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation.

Dr. Whitfield J. Green

Check his presentation

Dr Green is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Higher Education, an organisation mandated to conduct research on higher education, monitor trends in higher education, provide advice to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, and the apex organization for quality assurance of higher education in South Africa.

He was previously the Chief-Director: Teaching, Learning and Research Development in the South African Department of Higher Education and Training. Dr Green has worked in a range of education settings, having served as a high school teacher, as a teacher education college lecturer, and as lecturer and senior lecturer at university level.

He holds a Bachelor of Science, Higher Diploma in Education, Bachelor of Education Honours, Master of Education, all from the University of Natal/KwaZulu-Natal he earned his PhD from the University of Stellenbosch.

Mag. Diane Freiberger, MBA

Diane Freiberger has been involved in higher education for more than 30 years. She started as a lecturer at the Catholic Academy for Social Work in Munich. After that, she took a brief detour into business and was a PR manager for six years.  In 2006, she returned to the field of university management. 

Before she took over the management of FIBAA in 2020, Diane Freiberger was Managing Director of the Business School at the FH Kufstein Tirol University of Applied Sciences in Austria and Vice Rector at the same university for five years. In the course of all these activities, Diane Freiberger has been involved in quality assurance issues, especially in the area of digital transformation of teaching and learning. In recent years, she has been involved in national and international study projects and conferences on and has published about these topics. Diane is currently Vice President of CEENQA.

Prof. Dr. Titi Savitri Prihatiningsih

Professor in Medical Education and Bioethics at Faculty of Medicine Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She completed her MD from Faculty of Medicine Universitas Gadjah Mada (1993), her MA in Health Management Planning and Policy from Nuffield Institute for Health, Leeds University UK (1991), her Masters and PhD in Medical Education from Centre for Medical Education Dundee Medical School (1999-2003).

Currently, President of SEARAME and Member of WFME Executive Council (2018-now), Secretary of Indonesian College of Medicine (2023-now), Resource Person for Indonesian Accreditation for Higher Education in Health (IAAHEH), Member of Council of Continuing Professional Development, Indonesian Medical Association (2022-now), Member of International Social Accountability and Accreditation Think Thank (ISATT) (2022-now), Board Member of Towards Unity for Health (TUFH) (2021-now), External Expert Groups of WHO Learning and Capacity Building in Emergencies. She is currently the Faculty of FAIMER Regional Institute in Indonesia (FRIENDSHIP). Work experiences include Head of Department of Medical Education (2005-2008), Vice Dean for Academic Affairs (2008-2011) and Dean of Faculty of Medicine Universitas Gadjah Mada Yogykarta Indonesia (2011-2012), Member of Gadjah Mada University Quality Assurance Office, Member of Executive Council of ASEAN University Network for Quality Assurance (AUN QA) (2013-2017), Senior Trainer and Lead Assessor of AUNQA (2009-2019), Member of  Board of National Education Standards – Ministry of Education Republic of Indonesia (2014-2018). She has published books, books chapters, articles in main stream mass media and national and international scientific articles in her areas of interests, as follows: curriculum development dan quality assurance in health profession education, social accountability and accreditation.

The session will be moderated by:

Dr. Sylvia Demas

Dr Sylvia Demas is the Deputy Executive Director for Operations at the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in Namibia. Before NCHE, Sylvia held senior positions in other government agencies, including the Namibia Institute of Public Administration and Management and the National Planning Commission where she was responsible for development policy planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation.

Sylvia serves on the Boards of INQAAHE, the Southern African Quality Assurance Network (SAQAN), and the African Quality Assurance Network (AfriQAN).