The Law on Higher Education defines bodies responsible for quality assurance. These bodies are the National Council for Higher Education, National Entity for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education and the Accreditation Commission. 

The National Council for Higher Education is a body responsible for higher education improvement and quality assurance. It consists of 17 members, appointed by the National Assembly. Six members are full professors, principal research fellows and/or artists with internationally recognised works or a considerable contribution to the national culture, and/or university representatives, who are proposed by the Conference of Universities. Two members are professors of applied studies, proposed by the Conference of Academies of Applied Studies and Higher Education Institutions. Seven members are top experts and/or artists with internationally recognised works or a proven contribution to the national culture. Two members are proposed by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, the National Council may invite two student representatives, whose grade point average has to be at least 8, to take part in relation to the issues relevant to students. They are appointed by the student conferences. 

In terms of quality assurance and accreditation, the National Council has the following tasks: 

• Defining standards for self-assessment and quality assessment of higher education institutions, at the proposal of the National Entity for Accreditation; 

• Defining standards for external quality assessment of higher education institutions, at the proposal of the National Entity for Accreditation; 

• Defining standards for initial accreditation, at the proposal of the National Entity for Accreditation;  

• Defining standards and the procedure for accreditation of higher education institutions, at the proposal of the National Entity for Accreditation;  

• Defining standards and the procedure for accreditation of study programmes, at the proposal of the National Entity for Accreditation. 

The National Entity for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education (NEAQA) is a body responsible for the accreditation process, higher education institution quality assurance, evaluation of study programmes and higher education quality assurance. 

The Accreditation Commission is a board of professionals within the National Entity for Accreditation. It consists of 19 members – 17 higher education teachers, 1 student representative and 1 representative of the business sector. They are proposed by the National Council for Higher Education and appointed by the steering committee of the National Entity for Accreditation. The Commission is responsible for accreditation of higher education institutions and study programmes, and external quality assurance of higher education institutions, in accordance with the law and prescribed procedure and standards with regard to accreditation and external quality control.

The Accreditation Commission has the following tasks: 

• Evaluating accreditation applications and managing the process of accreditation of institutions and study programmes in the field of higher education; 

• Producing reports on initial accreditation and licencing of institutions; 

• Implementing external quality control; 

• Ensuring harmonisation of national accreditation procedures with those in the European Higher Education Area; 

• Performing other tasks in accordance with the Statute of the National Entity for Accreditation. 

The quality assurance system is set out in the Law on Higher Education (proposed by the Ministry of Education and adopted by the National Assembly) and related bylaws that define external quality assurance standards and procedures for higher education institutions and study programmes (conducted separately). Bylaws are adopted by the National Council for Higher Education. 

The Accreditation Commission conducts the external quality assurance process either every fourth year or at the request of the Ministry of Education and National Higher Education Council. The Accreditation Commission sends external quality assurance reports to higher education institutions and bodies that requested the external check. 

External quality assurance standards, defined by the relevant bylaw and adopted by the National Council for Higher Education, are as follows: 

• Standard 1: The external quality assurance process is based on HEI’s self-evaluation results. 

• Standard 2: The external quality assurance process is based on the fulfilment of established and published quality standards for higher education institutions and study programmes. 

• Standard 3: External quality assurance includes examining the fulfilment of quality standards in pre-defined areas: teaching, teaching staff, research, student evaluation, textbooks and literature, library and IT resources, premises and equipment, staff on a fixed-term contract, management process, publicity. 

• Standard 4: The outcome of the external quality assurance process of a higher education institution is based on transparent and clear criteria defined by the competent body, in accordance with the law. 

• Standard 5: External quality control must be organised in a manner that ensures the improvement of the quality of higher education institutions. Participants in the external quality control process must have clearly defined competence and responsibilities. 

• Standard 6: External quality control must be designed so that it serves the purpose of improving the quality of higher education institutions. 

• Standard 7: The external quality report should be written so that its constituent parts are clearly indicated. All decisions, findings and recommendations in the report should be easy to find. 

• Standard 8: External quality assurance should take place at predetermined and transparent time intervals. 

• Standard 9: The external quality assurance procedure should be regularly improved and adapted in line with the changes in higher education. 

The external quality assurance procedure starts when the Accreditation Commission appoints a sub-commission comprising at least two members of the Commission and one student representative without decision-making rights. Additional members can be field-specific experts or representatives of stakeholders (for example labour market stakeholders). Two reviewers, appointed by the Accreditation Commission, analyse the submitted documentation and assess the self-evaluation results against the standards, and subsequently report to the Accreditation Commission. The sub-commission can evaluate some important aspects by visiting HEIs. Both teaching and non-teaching staff are involved in the external quality assurance process.   

Accreditation certifies that a HEI and study programmes are in line with the standards defined by the Bylaw on Standards and Procedures for Accreditation of Study Programmes and the Bylaw on Standards and Procedures for Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions. The accreditation process is conducted on a regular basis every 7th year, or more frequently if requested by a HEI. The National Entity for Accreditation issues the accreditation certificate. 

Self-evaluation and internal quality assurance of study programmes, teaching and work conditions are defined by each higher education institution in line with the Law on Higher Education. HEIs prepare their internal documents and procedures for internal quality assurance. Self-evaluation takes place at least every three years. Students’ evaluation of the quality of academic programmes is part of the quality assurance procedure. A report on the self-evaluation procedures and results are submitted to the National Entity for Accreditation.