The Russian Register is an independent quality assessment body that ensures external quality assurance of higher and vocational education. The Agency actively supports the activities of educational institutions addressed on improving the quality of degree programmes and services in accordance with the legislation in the field of education (Article 96 of the Federal Law-273 “On Education in the Russian Federation”), and development of independent assessments of the quality of education in the Russian Federation and in the world. The subject for external quality assurance activities are directly the internal quality assurance systems of the institutions, regardless of ownership and field of activity. This is a tool for both creating a product with specified characteristics, guaranteeing its quality, and increasing its competitiveness in the market, an internal management system for institutions aimed at continuous development.
The functioning of the internal system for assessing the quality of education has always been the responsibility of the educational institutions, and having extensive experience working with educational institutions, RR often witnesses the low efficiency of such systems. It is important that Internal Quality Assessment system (IQAS) to be focused not only and not so much on the assessment of the formation of competencies at various stages of the educational process (as it is now), but to be a management tool for an educational institution that ensures that educational products meet the requirements of stakeholders. For these purposes it includes such elements and activities as:
- development and communication of a policy in the field of quality of education,
- distribution of functions, responsibilities, and authorities in the organization,
- focus of degree programs on the needs and expectations of students and stakeholders,
- planning both activities for the design and implementation of degree programmes, and changes, actions in relation to risks and opportunities,
- resource management of the organization (infrastructure, personnel, environment for the functioning of educational processes, knowledge),
- maintaining competence and awareness, information exchange systems, management and maintenance of data containing in the documents,
- the process of implementing degree programmes and services,
- a system for assessment the functioning of the processes of an educational institution at various levels of management of an educational institution and degree programmes and improving them on an ongoing basis.
RR considers it is important and necessary to publish the guidelines for educational institutions and the expert community considering the recognition and experience in assessment of internal quality assurance and management systems, incl. education, the competence of our experts in this field and the accumulated experience.
