Acsucyl, European University Quality Agency

Universities have responded to the challenge and the opportunity afforded by greater universal access to higher education by internationalising their available courses, which has led them to diversify their mission and to innovate teaching and learning methods. Given such a context, quality assurance agencies play a central role in helping university institutions to respond to these changes, ensuring international recognition of the degrees awarded to students. One key objective of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is precisely to contribute towards a common understanding of quality assurance in teaching and learning in any country and amongst all those involved. The common standards and guidelines established by the Conference of Ministers for Education of the EHEA for quality assurance (ESG) are the key to developing harmonised and comparable systems that demonstrate their quality on the international stage, increasing transparency, creating mutual trust and securing the recognition of qualifications, training programmes and universities.

The ESG provide a benchmark not only for internal and external quality assurance systems in higher education but also for the quality assurance of the agencies themselves, since they are the standards and guidelines applied by the  European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR)

The Quality Assurance Agency for the University System in Castilla y Leon (ACSUCYL) forms part of the EQAR register, after having successfully undergone an external review in accordance with these international standards, backed by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) . With the support of this international backing, ACSUCYL'S assessment, accreditation and certification programmes extend to higher education institutions anywhere.

ACSUCYL'S international dimension is further boosted through strategic alliances with other higher education agencies and institutions worldwide, aimed at sharing knowledge and “know-how”. These objectives are specifically reflected in:

• The involvement of experts who cooperate with the Agency and who include scholars from the international university community, as well as scientists, specialists and professionals from other countries.

• Cooperation with similar agencies in  projects and activities on an international scale.