Arqus participates in the EQAR Annual Members’ Dialogue

Today, 9th December, the Arqus Alliance will be participating in the Annual Members’ Dialogue organised by the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) in Prague.

The Members’ Dialogue brings together EQAR Governmental Members, stakeholder organisations, permanent observers and statutory bodies to discuss current policy developments in quality assurance as well as EQAR’s current and future activities. It also serves as a forum for exchange and networking among governments on issues related to quality assurance.

The new Members’ Dialogue, entitled “Back to the Future – How to embrace current and future trends without losing sight of our aims”, is discussing current policy developments in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and their impact on quality assurance systems at different levels. The focus is on enhanced transnational cooperation (cross-border QA and the QA of European Universities) and on “new degrees” (micro-credentials and the proposed European Degree). The discussions feed into EQAR’s future strategy.

Fernando Galán, Arqus Consortium Manager, will participate in the session “World Café – Voyage around European Developments” from 10:15 to 11:30 CET. The World Café gives participants an opportunity to learn about specific developments, initiatives and case studies related to quality assurance in the EHEA. Namely, Fernando Galán will chair the discussion group about “European University with joint internal QA”. Other topics of the Café will be “European Digital Credentials and European Learning Model” and “Data-Driven Quality Assurance”. For more information, please see the Programme of the event here.

Fernando Galán is the Consortium Manager of the Arqus European University Alliance and has over 10 years’ experience working on European higher education policies. Before joining Arqus, Fernando was head of international engagement at Crue Universidades Españolas, the Spanish rectors’ conference. He has also worked as policy and project officer at EURASHE, and as President of the European Students’ Union (ESU), being responsible for the coordination of its policy work. In these roles, he has contributed to relevant policy documents and initiatives in the field of higher education. Fernando has been a member of the BFUG board and of different expert groups of the European Union, the Council of Europe, UNESCO and the OECD, as well as of quality assurance agencies and universities among others.