VISITING THE DEPARTMENT OF TECHNOLOGICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, WITH FIBAA

2018-07-13

Taiwan Assessment and Evaluation Association (TWAEA) started its contact with Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA) since Nov., 2017 and the first project held by these two organizations was “How to Enhance the Competitiveness and Internationalization of Higher Technical Education in Taiwan”. To this end, the representatives of FIBAA, General President, Professor Dr. Kerstin FINK, and Head of International Affairs, Mr. Lars WEBER, were invited to visit the Department of Technological and Vocational Education, Ministry of Education (MOE), in July 2018 with TWAEA’s companion.

Director of the MOE Technological and Vocational Education Department, Ms. Yu-hui Yang, had received them in person on the day we paid the visit. Topics such as internship system, curriculum plan and joint degrees were all covered during the discussions, including experiences sharing and exchange, then they can better understand the efforts Taiwan has put in the promotion of our higher education, especially the talent cultivation.

FIBAA is one of the internationally renowned degree accreditation associations. Founded in 1994, it is a quality assurance association jointly operated by universities and industrial associations from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It conducts cross-border international accreditation in European countries, and mainly deals with economics, commerce, social sciences, law and etc. The accreditation standards also adopt the same as “Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area" (ESG) and local accreditation associations.

FIBAA is also an accreditation association recognized by the Akkreditierungsrat, Accreditation Council. In addition to Germany, Switzerland and Austria, FIBAA also accepts the institutional accreditation and program accreditation from the United States, France, Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Vietnam, Mexico, Albania, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Kazakhstan and Lebanon. As of Apr., 2018, there are 60 institutions and 700 programs that have been accredited by FIBAA. In recent years, the FIBAA certification has become an indicator of the quality of education for students, industries and society, and it has become well-known in Europe and many other countries.

TWAEA has been commissioned by MOE for many years to conduct the evaluation for technical universities and colleges; therefore, we have rich experience in various policies implemented by MOE and the quality assurance mechanism for higher education in Taiwan. The connection between TWAEA and FIBAA shall enable future technological and vocational education policies to be promoted by MOE, such as study work programs, higher education sprout project, and industry-government-university cooperation mechanism for talents cultivation. We look forward to creating more cooperation and opportunities between Taiwanese and German higher education associations or institutions in the future.