External Evaluation
National Evaluation
- Agency for Quality in Higher Education
The Agency for Quality in Higher Education is an independent professional body with an office in Skopje.
Bodies of the Quality Agency are:
- Higher Education Accreditation Board,
- Higher Education Evaluation Board, and
- Director of the Agency for Quality in Higher Education.
The composition, organization and manner of work of the Agency for Quality professional service shall be regulated by a Regulation approved by the Director of the Agency for Quality.
The Accreditation Board is an independent body. Its duties are to confirm that the criteria for establishing a higher education institution are met and that the requirements for organizing studies in all three cycles are fulfilled. It analyzes, approves, confirms and acknowledges new study programs within an authorization framework based on principles of professionalism and accountability.
All study programs at South East European University are established developed and reviewed using University wide guidelines and are accredited by the Accreditation Board.
Other relevant activities and mechanisms through which the quality of higher education are developed and maintained are based on law and acts of the evaluating bodies such as Higher Education Evaluation Board.
Evaluation of higher education institutions is done through:
- External evaluation and
- Self-evaluation.
- Higher Education Ministry Inspection
Yet another regular practice that contributes substantially to continuous improvement and attaining high standards in quality assurance, in regard to conformity to law requirements, are the Ministry inspections.
The Ministry conducts these inspections annually, usually at the beginning of the academic year, to ensure universities are conducting business in accordance with the Law on higher education and other governmental policies and regulations.
The usual checks and scrutiny of the Ministry inspection focus their attention on several aspects:
- the checking of operations documentation of the institution in terms of whether licenses exist from the Ministry and the Court;
- scrutinizing accredited study programmes and reconciling them with Decisions from the Ministry to operate these study programmes;
- scrutinizing the engaged academic staff across all study programmes to make sure the University complies to the Law and other regulations;
- the numbers of students (freshmen) enrolled in the corresponding academic year and if these numbers correspond to – do not exceed – the numbers published in the official advert for enrolling freshmen.
After these visits the Inspection usually compiles a report pointing out the issues to be improved or taken care of. So far, these inspections conducted by the Ministry have proved very instrumental in improving the overall work of the University in line with the legal framework of the Republic of Macedonia.
- The Ranking of Macedonian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)
The Ranking of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the Republic of North Macedonia is commissioned by Ministry of Education and Science, this was initiated from 2011.
For the development and improvement of the quality of higher education in every three years, all universities, registered in the Register of Higher Education Institutions, must be ranked.
The criteria and the ranking of the universities are determined by a special act that is determined by the Minister of Education. This ranking is done in order to increase the transparency, efficiency and quality of higher education institutions in the Republic of North Macedonia.
International Evaluation
- European Universities Association (EUA)
IEP Evaluation University Report 2017/2018
IEP Evaluation University Report 2008/2009
IEP Evaluation University Report 2004/2005
In 1993, after two conferences on the theme of Quality and Evaluation, organized by the Committee of the CRE (now the EUA, the Association of European Universities), they decided to offer member universities, which today exceed 800, the possibility of being evaluated so that their strengths and weaknesses in the area of institutional and quality management might be assessed. EUA evaluations are a tool to assist University leaders in their efforts to improve their management and to promote the universities’ capacity for change. The cornerstone of the evaluation is the university’s self-evaluation, which allows the university staff, as a team, to understand their institution’s strengths and weaknesses.
The EUA expects that the growing number of its institutional evaluations contributes to the promotion of a culture of quality among its members, and to the dissemination of examples of effective strategic management among the European universities.
The European University Association Institutional Evaluation Programme began 16 years ago, and has evaluated 250 higher education institutions in 39 countries. South East European University (SEEU) is the third university in Macedonia that EUA has been asked to evaluate. The University is continuoisly evaluated by the Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP), and these evaluation reports are used actively in developing quality programs and systems.
- Quality Assurance and Management System (ISO 9001/2015)
South East European University has developed a quality management system (QMS) in accordance with ISO 9001: 2015 standard and has been successfully certified for the last ten years.
Creation of Quality Management System according to ISO 9001: 2015 standard is a strategic decision for an institution, as it helps to improve overall performance as well as to provide a sound basis for sustainable development.
The Quality Management System of the University is audited annually, internally by the audit team and externally by an independent quality system certification body. This external audit verifies that we are managing our processes effectively and that we have effective control of our activities.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world's largest developer and publisher of International Standards and has a broad network, where states are represented by one member at the Geneva Central Secretariat in Switzerland, which coordinates the system. It is a non-governmental organization that forms a bridge between the public and private sectors.
Therefore, ISO enables a consensus to be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of business and the broader needs of society and has enabled the University to strengthen its efficient functioning through continuous improvement, evaluation and promotion of a total quality culture.