IMPACT OF EXTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE MECHANISMS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE WITHIN THE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS OF GEORGIA

Developing internal quality assurance is the most challenging issue for many higher education institutions not only in Georgia but throughout the Europe as well. The quality assurance units within the universities in Georgia appeared in 2005-2006 after Georgia joined Bologna process in 2005. It was obligatory to have quality assurance units within the institutions to be authorized. Since then the Quality Assurance Services of universities in Georgia supported the implementation of 3 cycle system, ECTS credit system and learning outcome based curriculum. Internal quality assurance mechanisms within the institutions have been worked out due to fulfilling the authorization standards.

Authorization in Georgia is the instrument for external evaluation of compatibility of an institution with standards, certifying internal (self) evaluation. Authorization is obligatory for all types of educational institutions in order to carry out educational activities and to issue an educational document approved by the state. Based on the mission of the educational institutions the authorization procedure shall establish the compatibility of an educational institution with the following standards:
a) Educational programs;
b) Material resources;
c) Human resources.

Due to authorization standards the number of higher education institutions decreased from existing 300 higher education institutions to 35. For new higher education institutions fulfilling the standards turned out to be less difficult. Since 2015 the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement started working on new standards and new guidelines for authorization. The higher education institutions were involved in all steps in the process. New standards for authorization are based on international experience, the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) and existing Georgian standards. And they are more development oriented rather than standard fulfillment oriented and the indicators are more qualitative oriented rather than quantitative oriented.

The article deals with the challenges and perspectives Quality Assurance Service would face to support internal quality assurance mechanisms and assure their compliance with new requirements of external quality assurance. And the case study of Akaki Tsereteli State University (ATSU) is presented showing impact of External Quality Assurance Mechanisms on the development of Internal Quality Assurance within the Higher Education Institutions of Georgia.