An international seminar “Internal Quality Assurance: Perspectives and Challenges” was held at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University on October 11. The representatives of the universities of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Ireland, as well as the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement of Georgia participated in the event.
 

TSU Rector George Sharvashidze said that the seminar is of great importance for the development of the education system in terms of quality assurance. “It is a very important seminar where issues related to improving the quality of education and teaching are discussed. Moreover, one of the issues is how post-COVID education looks like, how universities change every year. Specialists from different countries are participating in the seminar. I especially want to welcome my Ukrainian colleagues,” Rector Sharvashidze noted.
 

Irish internal quality assurance model, as well as the issues of doctoral education quality assurance and e-learning quality assurance were discussed at the seminar. Sinead O’Sullivan, Director of Quality Assurance at the University of Limerick (Ireland), noted that the seminar is important in terms of sharing experience. She also said that the Irish specialists together with their Georgian and Ukrainian colleagues will discuss the related issues in a working format.
 

Irma Grdzelidze, head of the TSU Quality Assurance Service, spoke about the format and content of the seminar. “We shared our experiences, especially after the pandemic, what challenges the universities faced and what are the prospects for this cooperation. European colleagues shared their experience of how they manage internal quality assurance, what are the procedures, what are the challenges they face. They talked about what perspectives they have and how the quality culture is formed not only with the support of external actors, we mean quality development agencies, but also within the institution itself. It is worth noting that the Secretary General of the European University Association (EUA), as well as the Head of the EUA Council for Doctoral Education are attending the seminar. They spoke about the experience of European universities, challenges and their perspectives, as well as the experiences of the doctoral school,” Irma Grdzelidze noted and thanked Academia Europaea for giving five Ukrainian colleagues the opportunity to attend the seminar.
 

Reports were read out by representatives of four Irish universities (University of Limerick, Dublin City University, Mary Immaculate College, Southeast Technological University), representatives of the European University Association (EUA) and the EUA Council for Doctoral Education, as well as representatives of Quality Assurance Services of Ukrainian and Georgian universities.
 

Amanda Crowfoot, Secretary General of the European University Association, noted that the seminar agenda issues are important topics for universities. She added that such forums provide an opportunity to discuss these issues not only in national but also in international context.
 

Veronika Tkachuk of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv said that this event is a good opportunity for different universities to share experience with each other and to get more information in terms of quality assurance. “I hope that sharing this knowledge between our universities will continue in the future,” she added.
 

Nadiya Lemega of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv thanked the organizers and participants of the event for sharing their experience. “We want to use this knowledge to improve the quality system in our universities. Intellectual support is very important for our country, especially at this moment,” She stressed.
 

The international seminar will last for three days.