On March 2019 the Eurasian Centre for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education and Health Care signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the The National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance Foundation/ANQA (http://www.anqa.am/en).

The MOU was signed by Professor Saule Sarsenbayeva, the Director General of the ECAQA and Ruben Topchyan, the Director of the ANQA. The National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance Foundation (ANQA) is an independent organization founded by RA government in 2008. ANQA implements quality assurance processes through institutional and programme accreditation in preliminary, vocational and higher educational institutions.

SEMINAR OF THE SENIOR ADVISER TO WFME AND AFMC PRESIDENT GENEVIÈVE MOINEAU ON "ACCREDITATION OF MEDICAL EDUCATION: INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL CONTEXTS AND PERSPECTIVES"

On 5-6 October 2018, an international seminar “Accreditation of medical education: international and national contexts and perspectives” was held at the National Research Center for Maternal and Child Health (Astana) with the participation of 30 clinical teachers and employees of 17 medical education organizations which provide training to interns and residents (medical universities, HEIs, research centers and institutes). The seminar was organized by the Eurasian Сentre for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education and Health сare (ECAQA) within the framework of the ECAQA Strategic Plan for 2017-2020 and collaboration with the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME). The Speaker of the seminar was Geneviève Moineau who is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC), President and CEO of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), Senior Advisor of the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME).

During the 2-day seminar, the participants were familiarized with the experience of accreditation of medical education in Canada, the role of AFMC in quality assurance of training of doctors; a lot of attention was paid to the International Standards of Accreditation of Basic Medical Education and Postgraduate Medical Education developed by the WFME, as well as to the role and involvement of students in the accreditation process. One of the relevant topics of the seminar was the experience of accreditation of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Continuing Medical Education (CME) in Canada and discussion of the WFME Global Standards for Quality Improvement of Continuing Professional Development of Medical Doctors. In process of training, Dr Geneviève Moineau carried out practical group work on the analysis of the ECAQA Accreditation Standards for different levels of education (basic, postgraduate and CME), the group works covered the following issues: which of the basic standards is the most difficult to interpret and why; what are the opportunities of CME/CPD Accreditation in Kazakhstan; how to address the barriers to CME/CPD Accreditation. Following of the end of the seminar, the participants were awarded expert certificates on accreditation of medical education.

On 21-22 September 2018, the International Seminar on Quality Assurance in Nursing Education was held at the Higher Medical College of the Health Department of Almaty with the participation of 31 delegates from 20 medical education organizations (medical colleges, higher medical colleges, medical universities, HEIs) of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The seminar was organized by the Eurasian Сentre for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education and Health сare in the framework of the Plan for the implementation of the goals and objectives of the Memorandum of Cooperation with the JAMK University of Applied Sciences (Finland), which is the partner of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the program of modernization of nursing education in Kazakhstan. The Speaker of the seminar was Johanna Heikkilä who is the Senior Advisor to the President of the JAMK University of Applied Sciences, the Project Manager of the “Modernization of Nursing Education”, the Coordinator and Scientific Supervisor of the CBHE (“Capacity Building in the Field of Higher Education”) for the ProInCa project (“Promoting the innovative potential of higher education in the field of nursing”).

The 2-day seminar covered the International Requirements for Nursing Education (EQF, EU 55/2013, WHO2020, Tuning, Bologna), Quality Assurance in educational institutions (ENQA standards, WHO 2009, student engagement), Support of the World Bank project and the ProInCa Erasmus + CBHA project in the development of nursing in Kazakhstan, the assessment process and the criteria for the transformation of higher medical schools, data on the introduction of a new competency-based learning approach to training in nursing. The participants were also provided with examples of self-assessment of educational institutions in the framework of accreditation in Finland and stages of expert work.

The criteria and accreditation procedure in nursing education developed by the ECAQA were delivered by the ECAQA Director-General Saule Sarsenbayeva.

The Eurasian Centre for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education and Health Care (ECAQA) will hold a training workshop on "Accreditation of Medical Education: International and National Context and Prospects" on 5-6 October 2018 in Astana for the ECAQA experts, staff of universities and scientific centers. The speaker of the workshop is Prof. Geneviève Moineau, President and CEO of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), Senior Adviser of the World Federation for Medical Education, Member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

The workshop venue: the National Research Center for Maternal and Child Health of the Corporate Fund “University Medical Center” of Nazarbayev University (the conference hall, 32 Turan ave., Astana).