THE ERASMUS PROJECT "SMEQA" IN SPLIT GATHERED 60 PARTICIPANTS FROM BIH AND CROATIA ON THE SUBJECT OF STRENGTHENING QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN BIH

A three-day meeting was held at the University of Split in the period 02-04-07-20204 as part of the SMEQA project - Strengthening mechanisms and capacities for the development of the quality assurance system in higher education in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This event was realized as a study visit hosted by the University of Split and the Agency for Science and Higher Education in Zagreb, and was attended by representatives of seven universities from Bosnia and Herzegovina, five entity and cantonal ministries responsible for higher education, two agencies responsible for higher education, at the level of BiH and the entities of Republika Srpska, as well as the Center for information and recognition of documents from the field of higher education. The purpose of the visit was the presentation of experiences and instruments from the Republic of Croatia that could be applied to strengthening the quality of higher education in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The three-year SMEQA project as part of the Erasmus+ program for the first time essentially connected more than sixty people from individual universities in BiH, competent ministries and agencies for the purpose of building a quality assurance system, assessing the situation and key challenges for quality, monitoring and development. After the first meeting and the beginning of the implementation of the project at the end of February in Zenica, numerous activities were initiated and important results were achieved in the analysis of the current situation and the development of a quality improvement plan, which were presented during this study visit to the University of Split.

At the meeting, experts from the University of Split and the Agency for Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Croatia presented their experiences, including the dean of the Faculty of Science, dr. Mile Dželalija, assistant director of AZVO Emita Blagdan, and Sandra Bezjak (AZVO). Participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina discussed in a positive atmosphere the findings presented in the Report on the analysis of existing elements of the quality assurance system in higher education, especially with reference to the regulations and challenges in the implementation of all twelve competent educational authorities in BiH. This report is the result of the teamwork of several universities and ministries, and the coordinator of the work package is the University of Mostar.

At the meeting, significant cooperation was achieved between all three components of the higher education sector: universities, ministries and competent agencies, a plan for monitoring the quality of project implementation, a plan for the dissemination of project results, and next steps were presented. in raising the quality of higher education in Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the end of the year, a visit to Slovenian partners in Ljubljana in October is planned, as well as a working conference in Banja Luka, planned for December this year, where the first significant instruments and proposals for improving the higher education system will be presented, and the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be presented , in the area of all twelve competent educational bodies responsible for higher education.

The SMEQA project is coordinated by the University of Zenica, the total budget of the project is approximately 1.9 million convertible marks and it is planned to be completed by the end of 2026. On the first day of the meeting, the Rector of the University of Zenica, Prof. dr. Jusuf Duraković, who thanked the representatives of all partner institutions for their participation and contribution to the implementation of this important project for all higher education institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and congratulated the project team on the implemented activities.