A short-term expert mission under Activity 4.1 Assess the current legal and regulatory framework on education standards, quality assurance, credits and recognition of parts of studies was implemented by the Twinning project on 9, 10, 23 and 26 June 2020.

The online mission which took place via Zoom videoconferencing platform was implemented by Ms. Kristina Sutkute, Information and Assessment Officer at the Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education of Lithuania (SKVC) and Ms. Inara Dunska, Deputy director of Diploma Recognition Department at the Academic Information Centre (AİC) of Latvia.

The aim of the mission was to revise the draft rules on recognition developed by the Department for Recognition of Qualifications of the newly established Education Quality Assurance Agency of Azerbaijan and provide proposals to ensure their compliance with the Lisbon Recognition Convention, European Area of Recognition Manual and other international documents and instruments of good practice.         

During the four-day mission, the experts held online meetings with the staff of Department for Recognition of Qualifications to discuss the above-said document and identify other needs of the Department staff in the area of recognition. In general, the experts assessed the newly drafted legislation as a substantial step towards compliance with the good recognition practice and relevant international instruments and tools.

As a result of the mission, the experts developed proposals to ensure compliance of the new recognition rules with the Lisbon Convention and other related international documents, provided a separate opinion on the concept and implementation of the concept of “substantial difference” in recognition processes and also practical information which could be useful for credential evaluators.

Moreover, the experts developed a mission report where they have provided recommendations on how to ensure fair, fast and efficient decision making in the recognition process.