The Students Alliance of Moldova expresses its dissatisfaction with the amendments made on the last 100 meters to the regulations concerning the functioning and organization of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Professional Education, which were included in the agenda of the April 1 meeting of the Government. The Agency is to assess the programs of all the higher and technical vocation education institutions, while the new changes made to the regulations limit, according to the students, the involvement of student organizations in the assessment process.

In a news conference at IPN, the head of the Students Alliance of Moldova Nicolai Loghin said that the final variant of the regulations was published on www.particip.gov.md on March 31. This variant limits the possibility for the national student organizations to delegate members to work on the commissions of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Professional Education. The provisions were replaced by others, which say that the students ‘can become’ assessing experts of these commissions. Thus, it is not mandatory for a student to work on each commission. At the same time, the students no longer have to be delegated by student organizations, as it was provided initially and as the European practice envisions, but will be selected at a contest.

Alliance member Igor Ciurea said the provisions included in the regulations on the last 100 meters are aimed at isolating the student community from the academic one even if, according to the Bologna education process, the students are not beneficiaries of education services, but are part of the academic community. “The Agency will have three large components: the administration broad, the specialized commissions and the executive apparatus. In at least two of these, the first two ones, there should be by a representative of the students. The initial variant of the regulations was based on the practice existing in Romania, as our international partners proposed. The current variant envisions a method of delegating members by contest, without clear selection criteria,” he stated.

In this connection, the Students Alliance of Moldova asked that the Government should postpone adopting the regulations concerning the functioning and organization of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Professional Education so that these are discussed broadly and in a transparent way with student organizations as the regulations should meet the European practices and requirements.