Public meeting of NASDOBR Presidium at RANEPA
On September 10, a public meeting of the Presidium of the National Board of Business Education Quality Assessment (NASDOBR) was held at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), attended by First Deputy State Duma Speaker, Chairman of the NASDOBR Presidium Alexander Zhukov.
The meeting was moderated by RANEPA Vice-Rector, Director of RANEPA Institute of Business Studies, President of the Russian Association of Business Education (RABE) Sergei Myasoyedov and General Director of NASDOBR and RABE Natalya Evtikhieva.
Alexander Zhukov spoke about the results of NASDOBR performance in the first half of 2019 as well as the new challenges facing the organization. He wished the participants good luck in the new academic year and noted that today the organization focuses on building a model of public-private partnership in accreditation. “We have developed a system that allows NASDOBR representatives to participate in assessing the quality of education at Russian universities. Over the past eight months, almost the entire NASDOBR expert pool has been involved in state accreditation and other types of expert work,” he said. According to Alexander Zhukov, the existing pool of experts is no longer enough, so it needs to be expanded by attracting staff from NASDOBR-accredited universities or those preparing to apply for accreditation.
In August, the Government approved changes to the Regulation On State Accreditation of Educational Activities, giving the NASDOBR authority to expand the involvement of independent experts in the state accreditation procedure through PPP, for example, to conduct an independent public appraisal of the quality of student training at universities preparing for state accreditation, as well as to assist universities in preparing for accreditation. Furthermore, NASDOBR should think about expanding to other areas, such as drafting regulations for the independent appraisal of higher professional education programs, and not just continuing vocational education and training programs. Alexander Zhukov proposed setting up a working group to consider this issue.
He pointed out several tasks for NASDOBR, including the need to create an inter-industry council on professional qualifications for managerial disciplines, draft a new version of the regulation on national criteria and requirements for the format and delivery of the Master of Management programs, as well as deepen NASDOBR cooperation with leading international associations involved in the accreditation and quality assessment of business and management education.
Olga Yakimchuk, head of the Public Services Department at the Rosobrnadzor federal education regulator, spoke about cooperation between NASDOBR and Rosobrnadzor on various tracks. She agreed on the need to expand the pool of experts and said the federal service is interested in NASDOBR being an independent appraisal organization for the quality of education. Sergei Myasoyedov in his remarks said NASDOBR plans to actively engage in the development of tools for evaluating the quality of student training before the state accreditation procedure, as well as for professional community accreditation of higher education programs.
RANEPA Rector, Chairman of the NASDOBR Supervisory Board Vladimir Mau noted during the meeting that the goal of accreditation is not only appraising, but most importantly, counseling educational institutions.
Director of RANEPA Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service Igor Bartsits drew attention to the procedure of professional community accreditation of State and Municipal Administration programs. After the quality standards were developed for such programs, in May 2019 it was decided to develop pilot procedures for accreditation based on those standards, he said.
NASDOBR group for the development of national management standards reported on its results. The report was delivered by the group’s head, EMAS Rector Andrei Kolyada, and Yulia Nazarova, Vice-rector of the International Management Institute for Entrepreneurs’ Associations and Deputy Director of the Professional Qualifications Development Foundation at the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The speakers pointed out the need to organize professional standards for management in a single inter-industry system of professional standards. The working group has already compiled a list of standards that definitely need to be included.
Yelena Zubkova, official representative of NASDOBR in international associations for the development of management and business education, spoke about the new version of the regulation on the Master of Management program. She pointed out that foreign experience with such programs has shown that they are often successfully implemented in cooperation with professional associations. Furthermore, the popularity of the program is enhanced by the part-time and remote format options available.
Natalya Evtikhieva spoke about the development of cooperation between NASDOBR and leading international associations in business education and public service.
At the end of the meeting, the participants approved the decisions of the NASDOBR Presidium. Alexander Zhukov and Sergei Myasoyedov summed up the results of the discussion. Finally, certificates were awarded to the organization’s experts and business coaches who have confirmed their qualifications.