QA of HEIs
Quality assurance (QA) in higher education came into special focus in Turkey after the participation of the country in the Bologna Process in 2001. Efforts and activities related to the Bologna reforms gained momentum after 2005. Among these were activities to set up a national system of QA comparable to the systems of international counterparts.
The QA system was first based on the Regulation on Academic Evaluation and Quality Improvement in Higher Education Institutions issued in 2005. In 2006 the Turkish Qualifications Framework in Higher Education (TQF-HE) was founded and an independent Commission for Academic Assessment and Quality Improvement in Higher Education titled YODEK was established, which included nine representatives of universities and one student representative.
In 2015 YODEK was repealed and the Higher Education Quality Board (HEQB) was established within the CoHE. In 2017 the HEQB became a public institution with administrative and financial autonomy, and was renamed as the Higher Education Quality Council (HEQC).
The main responsibilities of the HEQC are external evaluation of higher education institutions, assessment of applications of quality assurance agencies for registration and proposing assessment results to the CoHE General Assembly, as well as dissemination of a quality assurance culture in the Turkish higher education system.
The HEQB promotes the implementation of the National Quality Assurance System, which consists of the principles that higher education instructions will use as reference for internal quality assurance systems, quality indicators and related processes. In addition, it ensures the assessment of internal quality assurance systems of institutions, with Internal Evaluation Reports prepared annually by the institutions. It also organizes training services on quality assurance.
Each higher education institution must be inspected for an institutional external evaluation at least once every five years by HEQC. Between 2016 and 2019, 160 higher education institutions (104 state universities, 51 foundation universities and five vocational school of HEI) were evaluated and the reports shared with stakeholders and the public.
As of 2020, there were 16 national accreditation agencies and four recognized international accreditation agencies authorized by the HEQB that are entitled to carry out procedures related to programme accreditation. The number of higher education institutions with accredited programmes was 93. There were 791 accredited undergraduate programmes, including 619 undergraduate programmes accredited by national accreditation agencies and 172 undergraduate programmes accredited by international accreditation agencies.
In addition, the CoHE has worked to promote, facilitate and internalize the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) reforms. Between 2016 and 2019, the CoHE conducted a project which was accepted by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme, titled Implementation and Sustainability of EHEA Reforms in Turkish Higher Education System, abbreviated as .
Since 2009, thirty-one Turkish universities have received the European Credit Transfer System Label (ECTS Label), the highest number within EHEA countries. A total of seventy-three institutions have received the Diploma Supplement Label.
In April 2020 the application of the HEQB for full membership to the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) was accepted. The HEQB is also a member of APQN, CHEA and the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education ).
