Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT), in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, proudly hosted the HEEACT International Conference 2018 on October 17–18 in the City of Azaleas, Taipei, Taiwan. The theme was “QA 4.0 in Higher Education: Innovation and Transformation.” It was an honor to host all 18 renowned speakers, of whom nine are experts and professionals in charge of different QA agencies in various countries.
During the two days, many speakers echoed the overall theme that QA should be more comprehensive at both the national and institutional levels to ensure that the best processes and practices are implemented by education providers. A total of seven sessions explored new and upcoming roles and trends regarding QA systems, national and global perspectives on accreditation and qualification, formal and non-formal education contexts, and new policy formation in Taiwan.
Especially thanks to Dr. Susanna Karakhanyan, president of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE), and Prof. Dr. Bjorn Stensaker, Director of the Centre for Learning, Innovation, and Academic Development (LINK) and Professor at the University of Oslo, served as the conference’s keynote speakers. Both of them shared insights into the latest QA trends from different perspectives (QA agency and Institution). Moreover, they were joined by esteemed guests and colleagues from Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, and across Taiwan in sharing quality assurance knowledge and experiences in the exploration of higher education development.
Besides the sessions, Executive Director of HEEACT, Prof. Dr. Angela Yung-Chi Hou, warmly signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ms. Pauline Tang, CEO of THE-ICE to increase mutually beneficial cooperation between the two parties in working towards enhancing external quality assurance in both jurisdictions and improving higher education through mutual understanding, information exchange and transparency, recognition, collaboration, and use of each other’s expertise.
The HEEACT gladly thanks all speakers and guests who attended, thereby making the 2018 conference a great success. We are already looking forward to next year’s event!