Varduhi Gyulazyan, head of ANQA’s Institutional and Programme Accreditation Division, and Ofelia Petrosyan, a lawyer, visited the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR) within the framework of the IMINQA project, implemented by BFUG TPG C on Quality Assurance. During the staff mobility program, ANQA’s specialists got acquainted with the principles of the organization of the preliminary accreditation process in Italy and observed the work of the data collection databases. Another peculiarity of the Italian higher education system is that universities keep records of students’ progress, which shows students’ background, the subjects they studied, their academic performance and etc. The KPIs’ importance in the organization of periodic monitoring was also discussed. During the visit, ANQA’s specialists shared their practice on the implementation of the accreditation process in the RA. The international aspect of the accreditation in the RA, including the involvement of international experts and the bilingual organization of the entire process, was considered as good practice by the participating countries' representatives.
The visit was significant for ANQA’s specialists, as the study of the practice on the Italian higher education system will serve as a basis for the preparation of recommendations aimed at further enhancement, i.e. the development of a preliminary accreditation format and the creation of a database representing students’ progress.