News

Project to prepare the ground for Lebanese academic quality assurance agency launched under Tempus

27-01-2012

A new EU Tempus-funded project entitled “Towards the Lebanese Quality Assurance Agency” (TLQAA) was launched at the University of Balamand in Lebanon under the auspices and in the presence of Hassan Diab, Minister of Education and Higher Education, and Ambassador Angelina Eichhorst, Head of the EU Delegation to Lebanon.

 
A press release said the project of €634,554 aims at preparing the ground for a Lebanese quality assurance agency by defining a set of customized standards and procedures, and training Lebanese experts to conduct evaluations of academic programmes and institutions. The need for a formal quality assurance process has been recognised by Lebanese universities. Recently, a law for the establishment of a Lebanese national Quality Assurance Agency has been drafted and is being discussed in the Council of Ministers. 
 
The project brings together a consortium of twenty partners, twelve from Lebanon, including the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Lebanese Association for Educational Studies and ten universities, and eight partners from Europe, including the quality assurance agencies from Spain and France and six academic institutions. 
 
"Whatever form or shape the future national agency takes, I hope it observes three basic principles: recognition of the autonomy of academic institutions, independence and protection against undue political interference, and as little administrative burden put on the academic institutions as possible", said Ambassador Eichhorst
 
The TLQAA project is funded by the European Union in the framework of Tempus, a programme supporting modernisation of higher education systems and creation of an area of co-operation between the EU and its neighbourhood countries. This project comes at the moment when the EU Commission has considerably increased the budget of the Tempus programme (from less than €50 million to more than €90 million) and when the 5th call for proposals under Tempus IV is opened for applications (deadline 23 February 2012).
 
Since its start in Lebanon in 2002, Tempus has financed 38 projects with an overall budget of €9.8 million. It has supported public and private universities in numerous fields such as Engineering, Technology, Biotechnology, Industrial Engineering, Food science, Tourism, Intercultural studies, Urbanism, Forestry, Neuroscience, Quality Assurance, Accreditation, International Relations, Modern Management, Territorial Development, Entrepreneurship, Institutional Capacity building, Sustainability and Public Health as well as Institutes of doctoral studies. In addition, Tempus has provided the funding for more than 100 individual mobility grants offered to Lebanese academics from almost all Lebanese higher education institutions. Only in 2011, Tempus funded 2 projects involving 18 Lebanese universities and other organisations. (ENPI Info Centre)
 
Read more
 
Press release
 
Tempus website
 
Tempus IV – fiche and news
 
ENPI Info Centre fact-sheet – Tempus and Erasmus Mundus: Supporting education in the EU Neighbourhood Countries
 
ENPI Info Centre webpage – education and training
 
EU Delegation to Lebanon - website
 
 

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