DEQUE External Quality Assurance Framework in Turkmenistan Feasibility Study To develop a questionnaire both for the Ministry and

the universities involved to get an answer to the following questions: 1. What are the aims of the higher education in Turkmenistan? (According to the UNESCO World Declaration on Higher Education (1998) the aims of the higher education have changed to consider the change in the educational paradigm and massification. Now it evolves around three major dimensions: teaching and learning, research and development and services to society. Within the frames the universities are to decide along which dimensions they will proceed. On the other hand, following the Turkmenistan national development plan, the aim is to become comparable at international level, an aim, which requires fundamental changes in higher education management with the quality assurance being a core and driving force of its activities. Considering the recent developments at both European and international levels it is crucial for us to find out what the purpose of higher education is in Turkmenistan to propose a quality assurance framework that best meets the needs of the country). Please, tick all that apply. a. Teaching and learning b. Research and development c. Services to society d. Other, please, specify 2. Turkmenistan Government has signed the following documents regulating higher education at European level a. The Bologna declaration b. The Magna Charta for Universities c. The Lisbon Convention d. Other, please, specify 3. Turkmenistan Government has ratified the following documents regulating higher education at European level a. The Bologna declaration b. The Magna Charta for Universities c. The Lisbon Convention d. Other, please, specify 4. What is the institutional model in Turkmenistan like? a. It is centralized under the reign of the Ministry b. It is centralized under the reign of an individual university c. It is decentralized and the departments/faculties are the core units in the higher education system. d. Other, please, specify 5. Is there a national qualifications framework in Turkmenistan? a. Yes, there is, and it is applied in real life b. It is in the development process c. No, there is no qualifications framework but there are plans to develop one d. No, there is no qualifications framework and there is no plan to do so.

6. What kind of inspections or control mechanisms have been applied in the country so far? a. Licensure by the Ministry/Government b. Ongoing monitoring of activities by the Ministry/Government in the form of inspections c. None d. Other, please specify 7. What is the best approach to quality assurance in Turkmenistan? a. Quality control procedural inspections aimed at checking the status of performance b. Quality enhancement quality assurance processes that go deeper into teaching and learning and provide for development and enhancement. c. Both 8. How deep should the quality assurance processes go? a. It should be only at procedural level b. It should go deep into teaching and learning to make fundamental changes in the behaviour of the faculty happen c. Both d. Other, please, specify 9. What kind of quality assurance mechanisms do the universities need? Tick all that apply. a. Accreditation a process with a binary decision of yes or no and a certificate for functioning b. Audit a process aimed at enhancement and provisions of recommendation without any certificate or yes or no decision c. Assessment assessment of mainly student learning outcomes, which ca feed into a process accreditation or audit 10. What unit within an institution should be quality assured? a. The university environment in general b. The degree awarding department c. Both 11. What should the legal status of the external quality assurance body be like? a. It should be a unit within the Ministry b. It should be an independent body with its governing board c. Other, please, specify 12. What should the functions of the external agency aim at? Check all that applies. a. Quality control b. Quality enhancement c. Ranking d. Grading of the universities e. Capacity building of the universities f. Facilitating reforms g. Advising and counselling h. Providing trainings for the universities i. Working with the internal quality assurance units within universities j. Providing reliable data and relevant analysis on the whole higher education system k. Maintaining a Register for quality assured programmes, institutions l. Internationalization of the Turkmenistan higher education

m. Safeguarding the society from under quality education through provisions of reliable, transparent and timely data n. Other, please, specify 13. Is there an active Law on Higher Education in Turkmenistan? a. Yes b. No 14. If yes, how does the law define a. Quality _____________________________________________ b. Quality assurance __________________________________________ c. Aims of quality assurance__________________________________ 15. What do you think is the best definition of quality for Turkmenistan? a. Quality as fitness for purpose the country or a university sets a mission and works towards meeting the goals. This definition is challenging since a lot depends on who sets the mission, whether this is an individual university or a countrywide approach. The consequence of such an approach is meeting the set purposes. b. Quality as value for money this approach considers the inputs into the education gained by the students. This is a market approach, you should get adequate services for the money paid. A consequence may be if a student does not value education he/she might opt to pay less for a less quality education, or visa versa. c. Quality as excellence this approach aims at achieving the best results possible. In this case a university or a higher education system gets involved in an ongoing benchmarking process to promote excellence in education. d. Quality as transformation aims at deeper changes at teaching and learning level and prepares students with transferable skills capable of functioning in an ever changing environment. e. Quality as zero deficit this approach considers both inputs and outputs and strives to achieve a zero deficit in its services.