External Quality Assurance: State Leverage over Higher Education Institutions or Means for Increasing the Quality of Education?

Abstract

Joining the Bologna Process in 2005 was the first attempt by the Georgian government to transform its higher education system from a Soviet-style system into a European one. A number of reforms have been implemented since then, including the introduction of an external quality assurance process conducted by the state agency under the aegis of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia. The state licensing system, envisaging institutional authorization for higher education institutions and accreditation for academic programmes, has also undergone numerous changes over years, including the recent adoption of new standards. This process has been accompanied by serious criticism, starting from being used as a means of state leverage and a political tool and ending with its ineffectiveness due to being administered only superficially. The present paper reflects on the challenges accompanying this process and discusses how the mechanism of external quality assurance can serve as an instrument for raising the quality of education.