Regulatory and methodological changes in the system of higher education quality assurance

Abstract

The year 2015 can be considered the year of the regulatory and methodological changes in the system of higher education quality assurance. There are plans to bring into effect new standards governing the education quality assurance, both at the global and national levels. Also, the enforcement of new standards and guidelines for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area is expected, and the international standard ISO 9001:2015 “Quality Management Systems. Requirements” is being developed. A number of regulations have been put in effect at the national level: the Concept of the federal targeted program of education development for 2016-2020, the Order of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation “On approval of the indicators characterizing the general criteria for assessing the quality of the educational activities of organizations engaged in the educational activities,” federal state educational standards of higher education, which make adjustments to the federal state educational standards of higher professional education—the so-called third-generation standards. In 2014, the activities of the Transbaikal State University were focused on the upcoming changes. The university developed a system of education quality assurance. The present article describes the operation of the in-house education quality assurance system that conforms to the European standards and national regulations and guidelines.