QUAEM Tempus project, which started in December 2012, put itself just from the start many ambitious objectives of major national importance for Moldova, including the training of staff involved in quality assurance in Moldovan higher education institutions, active involvement of students in the processes of quality assurance, the establishment of an effective and sustainable dialogue between quality assurance structures and staff, trainings on developing self-evaluation reports of study programs for accreditation purposes, international accreditation of several study programs offered by our higher education institutions at bachelor level, support in capacity building and the establishment of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Professional Education (ANACIP), to name a few.

Almost a year has elapsed since the beginning of evaluations conducted by AQAS of some of the specialties provided by higher education institutions partners in QUAEM Tempus Project, among them the study program Electromechanics from the Technical University of Moldova (TUM).

The great advantage and benefit of the undersigned and of the team of the Department of Quality Management from TUM, was the fact that we took part in the whole evaluation process, we participated in identifying and formulating criteria and performance indicators (based on Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area) to be developed and maintained by Moldovan universities; we benefited from trainings organized by AQAS employees in order to develop self-evaluation reports compliant with the standards of the Quality Assurance Agency through accreditation of study programs; we were involved in the planning and organization of the site visits of expert evaluators etc., so that, ultimately, we can say that we were part of the whole process of study program evaluation.

For the undersigned, but not only, the organizational and methodical component played an important role for the development of our professional skills, but the main advantage of the European evaluation consisted in the opportunity of university managers, teachers and employers of graduates of the study program Electromenchanics to meet, to exchange views, to know the realities of the (EU) community area and to benefit from advice and recommendations of notorious specialists in the field, thus facilitating the alignment of higher technical education in Moldova to the standards and to the trends of the European unique (educational and commercial) market.

In the context of above, cannot but arouse satisfaction the recognition of efforts and activities conducted within the Department of Electromechanics and Metrology of TUM satisfaction that rely on the decision of the Accreditation Commission of AQAS, a decision that says: “The Bachelors-level programme “Electromechanics” (Bachelor of Science) offered by the Technical University Moldova is accredited according to the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG)”. This decision, the first of this size for TUM, so we can call it historic, is accompanied by a series of conditionings and recommendations, the fulfillment of which will allow us to maintain amongst the leaders on the Moldovan educational market.

The implementation of QUAEM Tempus project activities have also corresponded with the period of institutionalization of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in professional education (ANACIP) in the Republic of Moldova, this being another side of collaborations and benefits of the project which is nearing completion. We will not insist on the human capacity developed, on the transfer of experience from AQAS to quality assurance managers from Moldovan universities, on the efforts made by the project team in providing support to institutionalize ANACIP, but we will insist on the main results of the respective collaboration: ANACIP obtained legal status, three project members participated in the competition and were selected in the Governing Board of ANACIP (Lora Mosanu-Supac, Liliana Rotaru and the undersigned), two other members of the project team are among the employees of the administrative apparatus of ANACIP (Felicia Banu and Stela Guvir) and, most important, Moldovan universities and ANACIP initiated a sustainable dialogue with European educational institutions and Quality Assurance Agencies, an activity which we are required to develop and amplify.

Today, when we are in the final phase of the project, we can say with certainty, based on the concrete examples mentioned above, that the project has achieved all its initial goals and objectives, and even more than that, bringing a significant contribution to the development and strengthening of the quality assurance process at all levels, both institutional (universities) and ministerial, contribution and extraordinary support in the establishment of ANACIP, the added value brought by QUAEM and the German Agency for Quality Assurance - AQAS, as an important partner of the project, being undeniable.

Andrei Chiciuc,
President of ANACIP,
Former Head of the Quality Management Department, TUM