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Quality Assurance Framework in Turkmenistan Feasibility Study To develop a questionnaire both for the Ministry and the universities involved to get an answer to the following questions. For each question provide, please, your opinion in the form of percents of applicability: 1. According to the UNESCO World Declaration on Higher Education (1998) the aims of the higher education have changed to consider the change in the educational paradigm and massification. Now it evolves around three major dimensions: teaching and learning, research and development and services to society. Within the frames the universities are to decide along which dimensions they will proceed. Considering the recent developments at both European and international levels it is crucial for us to find out what the purpose of higher education is in Turkmenistan to propose a quality assurance framework that best meets the needs of the country. What are the aims of the higher education at your university (for the Ministry - in Turkmenistan as a whole)? a Teaching and learning b Research and development c Services to society 2. What is the best approach to quality assurance in Turkmenistan? a Quality control procedural inspections aimed at checking the status of performance b Quality enhancement quality assurance processes that go deeper into teaching and learning and provide for development and enhancement 3. What kind of quality assurance mechanisms do the universities need? Tick all that apply. a Accreditation a process with a binary decision of yes or no and a certificate for functioning b Audit a process aimed at enhancement and provisions of recommendation without any certificate or yes or no decision c Assessment assessment of mainly student learning outcomes, which ca feed into a process accreditation or audit 4. What unit within an institution should be quality assured? a The university environment in general b The degree awarding department % % 1 % % % % % % % %

5. What should the functions of the external quality assurance body aim at? Check all that applies. a b c d e f g h i Quality control Quality enhancement Ranking Grading of the universities Capacity building of the universities Facilitating reforms Advising and counselling Providing trainings for the universities Working with the internal quality assurance units within universities j Providing reliable data and relevant analysis on the whole higher education system k Maintaining a Register for quality assured programmes, institutions l Internationalization of the Turkmenistan higher education m Safeguarding the society from under quality education through provisions of reliable, transparent and timely data % % % % % % % % % %

6. What do you think is the best definition of quality for Turkmenistan? Quality as fitness for purpose the country or a university sets a mission and works towards meeting the goals. This definition is challenging since a lot depends on who sets the mission, whether this is an individual university or a countrywide approach. The consequence of such an approach is meeting the set purposes. b Quality as value for money this approach considers the inputs into the education gained by the students. This is a market approach, you should get adequate services for the money paid. A consequence may be if a student does not value education he/she might opt to pay less for a less quality education, or visa versa. c Quality as excellence this approach aims at achieving the best results possible. In this case a university or a higher education system gets involved in an ongoing benchmarking process to promote excellence in education. d Quality as transformation aims at deeper changes at teaching and learning level and prepares students with transferable skills capable of functioning in an ever changing environment. e Quality as zero deficit this approach considers both inputs and outputs and strives to achieve a zero deficit in its services. a %

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Please, give a characteristics of the situation at your university in following aspects (possible in Russian): 7. Policy and procedures for quality assurance.

8. Approval, monitoring and periodic review of programmes and awards.

9. Assessment of students.

10. Quality assurance of teaching staffs.

11. Learning resources and student support

12. Information systems

13. Public information

14. One of results of project implementation will be organisation of quality assurance departments in the participating Turkmen universities. Basic principles of their structure and functions should be fixed. Corresponding statements from regulations of Koblenz-Landau University are following (translation from German): , (. ) , , . , , . ( ) : 1. . 2. . 3. 4. . 5. , , , , . What elements of these regulations are proper for university quality assurance departments in Turkmenistan? What other functions can you propose for such departments?