“Defining Quality – The Relevance of Field Specific Approaches to Quality Assurance in Higher Education”

The conference “Defining Quality – The Relevance of Field Specific Approaches to Quality Assurance in Higher Education” will be held on the 2/3rd of November 2009 in Bonn, organized by the German Accreditation Agency for Degree Programs in Engineering, Informatics, Natural Sciences and Mathematics (ASIIN)  and jointly co-hosted by  the European Federation of Geology together with
• the European Network for the Accreditation of  Engineering Education (ENAEE),
• the European Federation of National Engineering Associations (FEANI),
• the European Chemistry Thematic Network Association (ECTNA),
• the European Association of Conservatoires AEC,
• the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), and
• the European Quality Assurance Network for Informatics Education (EQANIE)
In this truly international Conference, the European Networks in the field of Geology, Informatics, Engineering, Chemistry and others will present the outcome of their work over the past years, especially their achievements in the formulation of European wide learning outcomes and competence profiles for study programs in their respective discipline. EFG has co-organized this event on the background of the  “Leuven Communique” at the end of April 2009, in which the 46 European ministers of education have identified the development of disciplinary learning outcomes, competence profiles and qualification frameworks (under the umbrella of the so called “Dublin Descriptors”) as a crucial prerequisite for academic as well as professional mobility within the European Higher Education Area and indeed on a global scale. 
 
The conference will be opened by a key note speech of Director Helene Clark from the Directorate General for Education and Culture (EU Commission). We are also honored that the presidents of ENQA and ECA as well as high level representatives of the European Business Community and the European University Association have followed our invitation and will jointly discuss the way forward. We expect to attract a large audience from Higher Education Institutions, European business leaders, students and public authorities from around the globe and we especially  would be happy to welcome as many representatives as possible from EFG,  as the topics discussed are highly relevant for our common work.  In a special workshop for geologists on the second day,  Manuel Reguiero will speak on the situation of geosciences graduates markets in Europe and around the globe, emphasizing the need of a common educational benchmarking for Bachelor and Master geology programs in Europe; the current status of the European Accredited Geology Study Programs Project (EURO-AGES) will be presented and how its outcomes can be used to improve the production of high quality geology graduates throughout Europe.
 
The venue we have chosen is the beautiful Maritim Hotel in Bonn and you will find all the necessary information with respect to the program and for online-registration on the webpage of: http://www.asiin-consult.de/registration/. I do think that this conference will provide a very good setting for discussing recognition and quality assurance issues  in the field of geology on a continental scale and I would therefore appreciate, if all of you could forward and advertize this message in your own member institutions and publication forums as broadly as possible.  Please also keep in mind that the deadline for early bird registration and special hotel rates in Bonn ends at the end of September.
 
More information: http://www.asiin-consult.de/registration/