“EdNet” Agency for quality assurance of educational field

Address: ½ Baitik Baatyr street (8 micro region), Bishkek city, 720020

Description: EdNet Agencyis the first independent accreditation agency in the Kyrgyz Republic, which was established and registered in 2012 in the Ministry of justice, and later on in 2016 was acknowledged by the Ministry of education and science of the Kyrgyz Republic as an eligible accreditation agency, that is allowed to conduct program and institutional accreditations in the Kyrgyz Republic, and was included in the National register of accreditation agencies of the Ministry of education and science.
- Link to the Register of the Ministry of Education and Science of the KR where the Agency is officially registered - https://edu.gov.kg/ru/about/nacionalnyj-akkreditacionnyj-sovet/reestry/
- Link to the Register of the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic where the Agency is officially registered https://register.minjust.gov.kg/register/SearchAction.seam?sort=s.registrationCode&dir=desc&city=&founder=&chief=&house=&room=&okpo=&number=&baseBusiness=&fullnameRu=EdNet&street=&district=&tin=&logic=and®ion=&cid=25095987

Since 2016 the Agency has become a full member of INQAAHE.
When being established in 2012 the agency definedits foremost goal as quality assurance and promotion of culture through independent accreditation of educational programs and institutions, and thus contributed to development of educational system of Kyrgyzstan, by participation in development of legislative framework for independent accreditation that has been taking place during 2012-2016 years. Thus, the agency was part of the national team that elaborated governmental regulations on procedures and criteria for program and institutional accreditation of professional education that were approved in 2016 – the year when independent accreditation process was launched in Kyrgyzstan.
EdNet Agency was established asa result of Central Asia Network for Quality Assurance - CANQA project, which was aimed at development and implementation of quality assurance systems and quality culture in higher education in Central Asia. As such, preparations for establishment of the agency has started in 2009 and last for the next 3 years – such approach ensured that staff of the agency was fully trained (by the experts from EU accreditation agencies – NVAO, ACSUG) and was prepared for running the agency on with a highly professional manner and knowledge in accreditation. Within CANQA the EdNet Association, the founder of EdNet Agency, initiated a bill on the introduction of an independent accreditation system in Kyrgyzstan, which was adopted in 2013, and the system of accreditation has been officially launched in 2016.
The EdNet agency considers the independent accreditation procedure as one of the main mechanisms contributing to the qualitative development of the higher education system of the Kyrgyz Republic, increasing the competitiveness of universities both inside and outside the country, increasing public confidence in the learning outcomes achieved by universities, as well as the development of human potentialin the field of quality culture and new approaches to assessing the quality of education.

The Agency is responsible for reviews at institutional and programme level of post-secondary education institutions. As it stated in the Charter of the Agency (Part 4Subject, Goal and Objectives of the Agency).

Description: The Agency has formulated its mission as Promotion of the overall level of education quality through the effective involvement of all stakeholders in the process of assessing and developing the education system and the introduction of transparent and objective approaches to assessing the quality of education. (The Order # 28/1 as of 02.11.2013) of the Agency on Mission approval is uploaded within the Application form). The mission is consistent with the nature of the agency particularly:
• “effective involvement of all stakeholders in the process of assessing and developing the education system” is fulfilled by permanent collaboration and involvement in accreditation process of representatives of business society, academic and students’ community. The agency has signed an agreement with student organization - AIESEC (a global platform for young people) - about collaboration in selection of students for accreditation process. Besides, the agency organized a meeting platforms for meeting 5 youth organizations, existing in Kyrgyzstan, with the goal to join for promotion of qualitative education in the country. The agency decided to conduct training programs for free for students and youth who are willing to participate in accreditation process and contribute to improvement of education quality in the country. The Agency works with a variety of professional associations and employers for encouraging them to participate in accreditation. For today the agency involved more than 100 representatives of business community for accreditation. Academic community is a permanent partners and stakeholders of the work of the agency.
• “introduction of transparent and objective approaches to assessing the quality of education” – this part of the mission is ensured by involvement of professionals with very solid reputation, known on a republican level, as members of the Accreditation board of the agency (presented on the web-site of the agency). This serves as a guarantee that all the decisions related to accreditation are taken transparently and unbiasedly. Besides selection to expert panels is conducted with scrutiny and in regards to internal regulation about Conflict of interest. The Agency was the first accreditation agency in the republic who started to publish accreditation reports on the web-site.
Besides to fulfill the mission, the Agency actively works at supporting reforms at all levels of education sector, including schools, secondary special education and higher education, what provides the Agency the possibility to see the whole vertical permeability of the education sector and sequential trends in it.Moreover, the Agency participates in a variety of projects aimed at development of education sector on different levels, that allows to improve education system in regards to the gaps and weaknesses of the system revealed as a result of accreditation.
To be consistent with the mission statement the Agency applies and operates with 39 objectives that are stated in the Charter of the Agency and uploaded withinthe Application form. In order to optimize the number of objectives to be well understood by the civil and education society as well as increasing public awareness the objectives have been synthesized, generalized and uploaded on the website of the Agency: http://www.accreditation.kg/index.php/ru/2017-10-03-04-42-46/2017-10-04-07-32-13.
The objectives of the EdNet Agency are fully consistent with the nature of the organization where Agency is aiming to the following areas:
- Assistance in the formation and development of a national system of internal and external quality assurance in education and a national accreditation system in accordance with international practice and standards;
- Increasing the competitiveness of higher educational institutions of the Kyrgyz Republic at the national and international levels through the accreditation procedure;
- Development of a culture of quality in higher educational institutions and in the public awareness;
- Ensuring impartiality, objectivity and a high level of professionalism in assessing quality and making decisions on accreditation issues;
- Encouraging the use of innovation in the educational process and scientific research.
Here, within the framework of accreditations conducted by the EdNet Agency, educational organizations have an opportunity to consider their work from the point of internationally recognized standards – the Agency adapted European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) and applies it for conducting accreditation in Kyrgyzstan. Specifically, curriculums of educational programs are changing taking into account student centered education. Very important fact to be highlighted is that, thanks to Agency’s work, universities began to consider and build approaches to the development of curricula differently, considering the flexible trajectories of students, and, what is more important – it is evident how collaboration of universities with employers is strengthening and taking a new level. In its work the Agency pays great attention to the necessity of quality assurance system implementation and development, what reflected in our accreditation requirements.
Nowadays, our activity is primarily aimed at changing the understanding and adaptation of the academic community to new requirements in the educational system and providing all the necessary information for a smooth change in the content of education with the prospect of entering to the international market of educational services with a focus on quality. Agency has always been intended to contribute to sustainable development of educational organizations and for that reason started to undertake program and institutional accreditation of universities, colleges and lyceums, in the framework of which quality assessment is carried out by competent, independent national and international experts selected by our Agency according to a strict assessment system.

Description: The profile of the Agency staff, the numbers and roles of the stuff are fully consistent with the Mission Statement.

The Staff of the EdNet Agency consists of highly professional experts in the field of quality assurance, education and accreditation who is fully consistent with the Mission Statement. The main permanent staff consists of 6 people: The executivedirector of the Agency, the advisor and head of accreditation council, the methodology and accreditation coordinator, program coordinator, administrative assistant and an accountant. According to the policy of the Agency the staff is under the constant self-improvement process and increases its qualificationconstantly through hosting and participating in various seminars and trainings on the topics related to education, quality assurance, accreditation, improvement and innovation of educational process and other events in (countries of Central Asia, Europe, Russia, Ecuador), studying the successful practices of other countries and introducing the best assessment tools that take into account the national peculiarity of the education system of Kyrgyzstan
The Agency's staff also independently participates as experts in various projects, including official working groups of the Ministry of education and science of the Kyrgyz Republic on development of legislation for education sector, revise of current accreditation standards and criteria, analyses of various areas in education sector.As a result of analyses of the state of the art of independent accreditation in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and in collaboration with Astana accreditation agency (Kazakhstan) the executive director of the Agency, Umankulova O. presented a publication about “ESG-2015 as basics for criteria and standards of accreditation agencies in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan” (publications of international conference on August 19-23. 2019). Besides staff of the agency conducted a study to analyze the situation in the field of independent accreditation in the Kyrgyz Republic, including a comparative analysis of accreditation legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation, together with the process and criteria for independent accreditation that were applied in the framework of pilot accreditations in higher, primary and secondary vocational education in the frame of GIZ / GOPA Project “Scope 3: improving the quality of vocational education through independent certification and accreditation”. More about competency of the staff could be found in their profiles attached.
Annually the EdNet Agency involves around 100 external experts who take part in Accreditation process, projects’ implementations, trainings, seminars and etc.
Quantity of staff members is sufficient to cover the scope of the work in accreditation sphere – the agency annually conducts approximately about 40 program accreditations. Each staff members have its own responsibilities in regards to organization of accreditation process; starting from documentations collection and up to consultations and formation of expert panels which are fully consistent with the mission statement of the agency. During the site –visits 3 administrative staff members (coordinator on methodology and accreditation, administrative assistant and program coordinator) are delegated to serve as coordinators of expert panels (referring as secretary-assistants). As such each of 3 staff members has several expert commission to coordinate and support during the site-visit. After site-visits are completed and reports are signed, the staff members return to their daily duties. All these responsibilities are written and approved in a duties regulation. Such organization of the work has significant advantages: 1. The agency is more efficient if financial management, and has no necessity to hire coordinators for expert panels separately for the whole year. Since site visits are taken normally in the same period of the time (usually in December, January, March, April, May). 2. While being coordinators of the expert panels, the staff is capable to be personally involved and see all advantages, disadvantages, gaps and improvements inside universities that accreditation brings, and lately to apply this knowledge for improvements of methodological base of the agency, better arrange members of expert panels, and design new training programs according to the needs of universities.All this comprehensively support the mission statement set by the agency.
The functional responsibilities and short profile of the staff members are uploaded within the Application form.

Description: The profile of the reviewers is consistent with the Mission Statement.
The EdNet Agency was recognizedby the National Accreditation Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic on September 13, 2016 as an Accreditation Agency for quality assurance of educational field according to the “Order of recognition of the accreditation agencies in the field of education” approved by the Government Resolution of the Kyrgyz Republic as of September 29, 2015 # 670 and by the Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic # 1265/1. (https://edu.gov.kg/ru/about/nacionalnyj-akkreditacionnyj-sovet/reestry/) – reference to the website of the Register of the Ministry of Education and science of the Kyrgyz Republic. The Certificate on recognition by the Ministry of Education and Science of the KR is uploaded within the Application form. According to national legislation the Agency must run re-reviews and re-acknowledgment in the National Accreditation Council every 5 years – as such, the next review of the agency on the national level will be conducted in September 2020.

The Agency closely cooperates with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic. The Agency is actively involved in the implementation of the Ministry's policy in the field of improving the quality of education. In conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic, in 2018 the Agency established the holding of permanent conference “The best practices. The path to excellence”, in which nominations are awarded based on the results of accreditations conducted by the EdNet Agency, which confirms the high trust and recognition of the results of accreditations conducted by the Agency.

The Supervisory Board of the Agencyreviews the Agencies activitiesannually. The Supervisory Board oversees: annual reporting, the activities of the Agency, the use of funds, compliance by the Agency with the goals and objectives for which the Agency was established. The justification of the Supervisory Board profile is stated in the Charter of the Agency which was uploaded in the Criterion 1.

The Accreditation Council of the Agencyis a collegial body formed under the Agency, the purpose of which is to make decisions based on the conclusion of the expert commission based on the results of accreditation and the procedure for appeal of the educational program. The profile of the Accreditation Council of the Agency is fully consistent with the Mission Statement of the Agency. The Council carries out its activities in accordance with the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Charter of the Agency and its Regulation.
The purpose of the Council's activities is to make objective and well-grounded decisions on accreditation or refusal to accredit educational organizations and programs. To achieve this goal, the Council implements the following main tasks:
1) Conducting an objective assessment of the report of the expert commission:
2) Assessment of the commission's work in accordance with the requirements and procedures for accreditation;
3) Assessment of the activities of the commission for the objectivity in the implementation of their functions;
4) Prevention of violation of the interests of the accredited educational organization.
The Regulations on the Accreditation Council is uploaded within Criterion 4 of the Application Form.
The Agency is highly interested in developing professional environment and preparation of highly-qualified independent accreditation experts who will be consistent with the Mission Statement of the Agency. Besides Accreditation Council of the Agency consists of independent reviewers and experts who is fully consistent with the Mission Statement of the Agency. To implement its activities, the EdNet Agency has collected a database of more than 300 experts, including representatives of the labor market, the academic community and the student audience, as well as foreign experts who shares and promotes Mission Statement of the Agency. The Agency ensures the independence of the experts by implementing a mechanism of no-conflict-of-interest.
Today, the Agency has experience in involving experts from Kazakhstan, Georgia, Turkey, Romania, Lithuania, France, the UK and the USA. Moreover, to accredit medical programs, the Agency invites experts who had experience working with WFME - the World Federation of Medical Education. The hallmark of the EdNet Agency is that it is eager to ensure that the results of Agency’s accreditation, and consequently the results and achievements of universities and colleges of the Kyrgyz Republic are internationally recognized. Since2016 the Agency conducted accreditation of 131 educational programs and showed itself as an independent and objectiveauthority, whichis careful in accreditation in order to ensure a high level of both the process itself and the results of accreditation, which would allow the program to reach a new level of development. Furthermore, since 2015 EdNet Agency is the full member of the International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education - INQAAHE from Kyrgyzstan and works with European Network for Quality Assurance ENQA in order to ensure complianceof criteria, principles and procedures of independent accreditation of EdNet Agency with international standards.
One of the directions of the Agency is to conduct trainings and refresher courses aimed at introducing innovations and improving the quality of education. Over the past years of its activity, the staff of the EdNet Agency has developed more than 100 educational programs and trainings for the country's pedagogical staff in various areas. Surveys, that the agency conducts systematically after each training sessions show a high level of satisfaction of participants with learning outcomes - the average score corresponds to 4.8 points on a 5-point scale, with such statements from the experts as “the best training courses on quality in Kyrgyzstan”, “always practice-oriented and specific”, “always new information and close to international vision of accreditation process”, “always professional staff and objective overview of situation of quality in higher education”. To develop training programs, the Agency uses not only the experience of the experts involved, but also takes into account the results of benchmarking conducted by the Agency among similar foreign programs. In addition to educational seminars and trainings, the Agency regularly conducts seminars and webinars with the participation of international experts from Europe and the USA. From 2012 to 2020 The EdNet agency was visited by such quality specialists as AxelAerden (NVAO, Netherlands), Tibor Szanto (NAS, Hungary), Radu Damian (ARACIS, Romania), Mark Kretovics and Martha Merril (KSU, the USA), as well as a number of European organizations with which exchange of experience and consultations on the quality of education takes place on an ongoing basis.
By the same token, with the support of Fullbright programthe EdNet Agency had a chance to invite Mark Kretovics again, who provided seminars on accreditation that significantly influenced understanding of the issue of quality in the higher education system in Kyrgyzstan. In particular, accreditation experts received a clear and professional vision of their role in assessing the quality of education and in the accreditation process, and learned how to organize processes that take place in universities from a qualitative rather than quantitative point of view. University representatives received valuable practical information on how to develop and evaluate learning outcomes, and were also able to learn the skills of making some improvements to the curriculum and competencies that are developed at the university within a specific discipline. And the most impressive and useful information was about the introduction of human resources and strategic management at universities.
Pursuing the goal of helping to improve educational processes, leading experts of EdNet Agency regularly share their knowledge at seminars and trainings that are open for all comers. In 2017-2020, more than 2300 people were trained from administrative and teaching staff from tertiary education. All participants note the high level of professionalism of the Agency trainers, as well as the practical orientation and usefulness of the courses offered.

Description: Taking into account Kyrgyz legislation, the Charter of the Agency, regulatory framework and principles, the judgements and recommendations of the Agency’s reports cannot be changed by third parties and the EdNet Agency performs its activities fully independently and autonomously. So the Agency has its full responsibility for its operations and results of accreditation.
The Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Education stipulates the independence of the Agency’s work from third parties, such as higher education institutions, governments and other stakeholder organizations.The Law of the KR on Education is uploaded within Criterion 5 and Article 40 of the Law on Education: Licensing of educational activities, accreditation of educational organizations and programs, testing of studentsis uploaded as well
At the same time independence of formal outcome is as following: while experts from relevant stakeholder backgrounds, including students, take part in quality assurance processes, the final decision about the status of accreditation is the responsibility of the AccreditationCouncil of theAgency. The Agency has a document regulating possible conflict of interest for the experts, and none of the experts is included in accreditation procedures unless it meets the requirements for absence of the conflict of interest. All experts of the Agency who are involved in the process of accreditation operate with compliance of the Instruction for Experts. This Instruction was developed for members of expert commissions in order to assist in conducting an objective, independent, transparent and professional expert assessment of the quality of educational programs within the framework of independent accreditations conducted by the “EdNet” Agency. Compliance with the rules and procedures specified in this instruction is a mandatory requirement of the Agency for all members of expert commissions. The Agency notes that the experts, at the time and in the process of conducting independent accreditation, are the official representatives of the Agency.
In this regard, the Agency approaches the selection of experts and the organization of their further work with great responsibility, and is interested in a high level of professional and personal competence of each expert. Each expert recruited by the Agency for accreditation of educational programs must respect and follow the EdNet Agency policy regarding independent accreditation. Furthermore, the Instruction includes the Obligation of the Experts that states their independent work and absence of their personal, financial and commercial interests which can influence on the decision and results of the accreditation. The Instruction for Experts and Obligation for Experts are uploaded in Criterion 5.
In addition to this Instructions, EdNet Agency is guided by the Regulation on the Expert commission for conducting independent accreditation, which stipulates basic requirements for the composition of the expert commission, the status, rights and obligations of the members of the expert commission, the procedure for approval and removal of experts. Besides the Regulation includes the Appendix 1 On the interpretation of the concept of "conflict of interest" in the process of conducting independent accreditation. (Both of the documents are included in the Criterion 5: Regulation on the Expert commission for conducting independent accreditation and Appendix 1 On the interpretation of the concept of "conflict of interest" in the process of conducting independent accreditation).
The process of the Agency in regard of expert commission approval includes the following procedures:
- The Agency forms an independent expert commission to conduct an expert assessment of the educational program. The expert committee must necessarily include a foreign expert, an expert on quality assurance and / or a specialist from the academic environment in the field of the accredited program, representatives of the labor market and the student community.
- The list of the formed expert commission is submitted to the Educational organization to confirm the absence of a conflict of interest and agreement with the qualifications of each of the presented members of the commission. The Organizational institution, in its turn, transmits the Statement on the absence of a conflict of interest to the Agency.
- If there are compelling reasons why the Educational Organization does not agree with the presence of an expert in the commission, then the Educational Organization has the right to ask the Agency to dismiss individual members of the expert commission with a clear indication of the reasons for such a decision. In the absence of a conflict of interest with the members of the expert commission, the Educational Organization must officially notify the Agency and give its consent to approve the composition of the Expert commission. The procedures on independent expert commission approval is stated in the Guidelines for the Educational Organizations for Bachelor and Master Levels.
Besides the policy of the EdNet Agency stipulates the appellation process for the educational organizations. According to the article 28 of the Guidelines for the Educational Organizations: In case of disagreement with the decision on accreditation, the Educational Organization has the right, within 7 (seven) days after receiving the expert judgement, to submit a Notice of Appeal to the Agency, which will be considered in accordance with the Agency's appeal procedures. The Regulation on the procedure for appealing decisions on accreditation of the educational organizations and programs is uploaded in Criterion 5.
The final Decision on the results of accreditation is taken by the Accreditation Council of the Agency, which consists of 5 independent specialists in different areas of the country and who are not employees of the Agency. Besides all the members have a high-level solid reputation in the Kyrgyz Republic who are famous for unbiased, objective and professional position. The reputation of the Council members supports the trust to all the decisions of accreditation procedures taken by the Board.
Independence of the EdNet Agency is an important factor to ensure that any procedures and decisions are solely based on independent expertise and are taken by independent Accreditation Council of the Agency.All decisions, judgments and recommendations of the organizations reports are forwarded to the Ministry of education and science of the KR and cannot be changed by third parties.The information on the members of the Accreditation Council can be found on the website of the Agency:http://www.accreditation.kg/index.php/ru/2017-10-03-04-42-46/2017-10-04-07-28-56 .
The Agency implements standards that are stated within the Guidelines for the Educational Organizations for Bachelor Level and Guidelines for the Educational Organizations for Master Level. The process of accreditation procedure of the documents proceeds paragraph 29 (page 12) of both documents where the judgments and recommendations of the organization’s reports cannot be changed by third parties. Both Guidelines for the Educational Organizations for Bachelor level and Master level are uploaded in the Criterion 5. Standards of the EdNet Agency for conducting independent accreditation for Bachelor Level and Standards of the EdNet Agency for conducting independent accreditation for Master Level are uploaded in Criterion 5.

Description: The EdNet Agency has sufficient resources, both human and financial, to run its operations in accordance with its Mission statement and Objectivesin the Kyrgyz Republic
The Organizational Structure is laconic and efficient according to financial capacities of the agency, and allows to efficiently and result-oriented run and operate the agency (attached to this criteria)
The management system of the agency is built with the principle of corporate responsibility and team operation – though each of the staff members has its own duties, nevertheless all of the members are informed about activities of others by weekly staff meetings, and has sufficient knowledge for interchangeability. Besides, it is obligatory that every staff member MUST run 4 main training programs conducted by the Agency within the first 3 months after being employed (the topics of training programs are: 1. self-assessment procedures and reports; 2. What is quality assurance and quality culture; 3. Organization of the work of expert panels and site-visits. Corporate responsibility implies that each staff members is fully agree with the mission statement of the organization, and is ready to contribute to its fulfillment. During the recruiting period every candidate is asked whether the mission, objectives and work principles are consistent with his/her values. If not, the candidate cannot be employed in the agency. It is an important step for being employed in the agency. For better administrative and financial management, the agency hasoutsourced such services as IT services, involvement of experts for training and external revision of methodological base, legal services.

The Agency is adequately and appropriately funded and it helps the Agency to give higher education’s important impact on the development of societies and individuals. The resources of the EdNet Agency, which are formed from 3 main sources: accreditation fee, project budgets and fees for training courses, enable it to organize and run its external quality assurance activities in an effective and efficient manner.
Over the years of its work on the preparation and conducting of accreditation, the EdNet Agency has formed a significant and professional methodological base on the issues of internal and external assessment of the quality of education. The documents are uploaded on the website of the Agency www.accreditation.kg.
Agency together with the “Attractor” - leading IT training Company of the country has developed a unique system amongst Accreditation Agencies of the Republic for the database of its experts. The database includes detailed information on the local and foreign experts of the Agency including representatives of the academic, students’ societies and employers. It can preserve and process a large amount of information about the experts. The system lets search for the appropriate experts’ candidates to form the expert accreditation commission considering the experience of work, qualification, experience of cooperation with the EdNet Agency and references of the Agency’s staff if the expert has already taken part in the work of accreditation commission. Besides the system automatically finalizes the Order after the end of the expert commission work.
The Agency has a good technical equipment, including: Logotech system conference calls, cameras, 2 TV screens, 1 TV set, 1 projector, 6 personal computers, 3 notebooks, 6 landline phones, mobile phones, fax, full package of equipment for webinars and trainings, 3 scanners, 5 copy-machines, and etc.
Besides, the resources enable the Agency to improve, to reflect on its practice and to inform the public about its activities.

Description: Being based on the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG), national legislation and its own principles, mission statement the EdNet Agency has developed its own Quality assurance criteria and processes.
The External quality assurance criteria and processes of the EdNet Agency are transparent and publicly available. This information can be found on the web-site of the Agency www.accreditation.kg as well as in public reports. Bearing in mind high standards of Quality assurance criteria and processes the Agency drafted Guidelines for conducting self-assessment for Bachelor and Master degree levels of educational programsand Standards for the Accreditation of Educational programs within the accreditation process.The documents are uploaded to the Criteria 7:
1. The Guidance for the Educational Organization for the Bachelor level: stating independent work of the Agency without interfering the third parties in judgments and recommendations of the reports
2. The Guidance for the Educational Organization for the Master level: stating independent work of the Agency without interfering the third parties in judgments and recommendations of the reports
3. Standards of the EdNet Agency for conducting independent accreditation for Bachelor Level
4. Standards of the EdNet Agency for conducting independent accreditation for Master Level

The EdNet Agency actively cooperates with Higher Educational Organization before and after the accreditation process takes place. The Agency provides the HEO with an Agreement where the main responsibilities on quality assurance criteria and processes are stated. The Sample of the Agreement between the EdNet Agency and Higher Educational Organization uploaded to the Criteria 7.
According to its policy of external quality assurance, the Agency annually publishes all the reports on the results of accreditation on its website: http://www.accreditation.kg/index.php/ru/2017-10-04-16-16-46/2017-10-04-16-48-02 .

Besides a variety of external quality assurance activities are carried out by the Agency to achieve its objectives. Here among them are evaluation, review, assessment, diagnostics, accreditation and other similar activities at program or institutional level. In this regard, the Agency has the following principles:
- Responsibility for its activities in order to develop the national education system and contribution to the public benefit of the country.
- Openness to interaction with all interested parties.
- Transparency in the process of conducting its activities, as well as procedures and decision-making based on the results of ongoing accreditations.
- Objectivity in assessing the quality of education and decision-making in relation to educational organizations. (reference to the website of the Agency: http://www.accreditation.kg/index.php/ru/2017-10-03-04-42-46/2017-10-04-07-32-13).

Transparency and public awareness in the processes and criteria of the Agency is an essential part of its functioning and activity. On a constant base Agency promotes transparency in all its activities. It organizes meetings, trainings, video conferences, publishes articles and gives interviews in local mass-media in order to let public be aware about the external quality assurance criteria and transparent processes applied by the Agency.

Description: The EdNet Agency has quality assurance measures in place and is subject to occasional review.
Every 5 years the EdNet Agency is subject to the Review of the National Accreditation Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic (the Certificate was uploaded in Criterion1). Besides the Agency makes the report for the National Accreditation Council. The last report for the National Accreditation Council is downloaded to the Criterion 8.
The Agency is subject to independent financial audit as well. At present time the Agency is under the process of voluntary external financial audit The results of the audit will be available by September, 28th.
The EdNet Agency promotes high standards of quality assurance not only within academic society but first and foremost within the Agency itself. It is important to underline the Supervisory Board that acts as an Audit or Inspector Board and once a year revises all activities of the Agency which have to comply with the Mission statement. The supervisory Board oversees:
1) the activities of the Agency (Fund);
2) making decisions by the bodies of the Agency and ensuring their implementation;
3) use of the funds of the Agency;
4) compliance by the Agency with the goals and objectives for which the Agency was created.
The functions description of Supervisory Board was uploaded in the Criterion 1 and was given in Criterion 4.

The EdNet Agency is subject to the Review of experts on accreditation and higher educational institutions. After each round of accreditation the Agency sets a feedback with all educational institutions where accreditation took place and receives reviews, assessments and replies on the undertaken accreditation process. In compliance with all recommendations received from academic institutions and Supervisory Board the Agency revises its procedures and introduces changes into its internal documentation system. Furthermore, the coordinators on behalf of the Agency accumulate all the recommendations from experts during and after the accreditation process and subject them to the wide discussions within the Agency for their future implementation in the accreditation process. The updates and upgrades of the documents and procedures are taken place on the regular basis. Annually by September they all are introduced on the website of the Agency: www.accreditation.kg.
Pursuing the goal of helping to improve educational processes, leading experts of EdNet Agency regularly share their knowledge at seminars and trainings that are open for all comers. In 2017-2020, more than 2300 people were trained from administrative and teaching staff from tertiary education. The Agency provides each participant of the training with Questionnaires on the results and recommendations for the training. For the Agency it is valuable to receive the feedback on the results of its activities constantly. The staff of the Agency reviews all questionnaires and analyzes all recommendations given for the feedback. All participants note a high level of professionalism of the Agency’s trainers, as well as the practical orientation and usefulness of the courses and trainings offered.The Questionnaire form is download to the Criterion 8.

The EdNet Agency promotes an effective quality assurance measures in place and is subject to occasional review according to its policy in an effective quality assurance measures.

Proof of recognition as a Higher Education Institution: Applicable Only For Institutional Members

Proof of the organisation’s good standing with the local QA agency: Applicable Only For Institutional Members

Applicable Only For Associate Members

Description: Applicable Only For Intermediate Members

Applicable Only For Intermediate Members

Applicable Only For Intermediate Members

Criteria Requirements for Observer: Applicable Only For Observers