Quality assurance in the field of education and training refers to the monitoring, evaluation, maintenance and improvement of the quality of an education system, institution or program. Quality assurance includes planning, implementation, evaluation, and assessment, reporting and quality improvement to ensure that the quality requirements expected by stakeholders are met. In the field of education and training in Türkiye, MoNE, CoHE, YÖKAK and VQA are working on the establishment and implementation of quality assurance systems. One of the studies in this field is the TQF.
The TQF is a national qualifications framework designed to be compatible with the EQF, showing the principles of all qualifications acquired through vocational, general and academic education and training programs, including primary, secondary and higher education, and other learning pathways. All qualifications that are certified and quality assured in Türkiye are systematically placed in the TQF. Quality assurance is required for qualifications to be placed in the TQF. The Regulation on the Principles and Procedures for the Implementation of the Turkish Qualifications Framework (TQF Regulation) entered into force in 2015. The TQF Regulation outlines the inclusion of all quality-assured qualifications in the TQF through education and training programs and other learning pathways and the actions to be taken regarding quality assurance processes.
The Regulation on Ensuring Quality Assurance of Qualifications to be included in the Turkish Qualifications Framework (Quality Assurance Regulation) entered into force in 2018. With the amendment made in 2019, YÖKAK was added among the responsible institutions. Issues regarding the authorization, recognition and monitoring of external evaluation institutions in higher education are carried out by YÖKAK.
The Regulation on Quality Assurance is the first legislation in Türkiye on the quality assurance of different types of programs and qualifications, primarily under the responsibility of MoNE, VQA, YÖK, YÖKAK and higher education institutions. With this regulation, a qualification form is created by the responsible institutions in the quality assurance process and approved by the TQF Board. Responsible institutions conduct valid and reliable assessment and evaluation processes and carry out certification processes in a transparent and impartial manner. Processes for qualifications consist of self-assessment and external assessment. Units, teams or organizations conducting external assessment are subject to regular review. Improvement activities are carried out in the light of self-assessment and external assessment findings. Stakeholders are involved in processes related to qualifications. All processes are allocated resources based on clear, measurable objectives, criteria and guidelines. Feedback mechanisms are developed and implemented for processes and electronic accessibility is provided for outputs.
After the Quality Assurance Regulation entered into force, quality assurance documents and mandatory guidelines were prepared and put into practice by VQA, CoHE and MoNE. Procedures and Principles for Ensuring Quality Assurance of Higher Education Diploma Programs were adopted by CoHE and Quality Assurance Guide for Higher Education Diploma Programs was published. The Procedures and Principles on Recognition and Quality Assurance of Prior Learning were approved by the TQF Coordination Board. With the update made in the Regulation on Higher Education Quality Assurance and Higher Education Quality Council, the responsibility of evaluating the level of implementation of the provisions of the Quality Assurance Regulation in higher education institutions was given to YÖKAK.