2025 INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM LAUNCHED: TWAEA PARTNERS WITH INTERNATIONAL QA AGENCIES TO OPEN A NEW CHAPTER OF COLLABORATION

2025-07-30

The Taiwan Assessment and Evaluation Association (TWAEA) has long maintained strong and substantive partnerships with the Japan University Accreditation Association (JUAA) and Thailand’s Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA). Building on this foundation, the three agencies jointly launched the International Internship Program in 2023, receiving highly positive feedback from participating interns and generating fruitful outcomes through cross-border exchange. The second round of the program officially commenced in the summer of 2025, continuing the momentum of international collaboration while opening a new chapter for deeper professional dialogue and exchange.

The 2025 program began with an online opening ceremony on July 4, during which international interns expressed strong enthusiasm for the opportunity and familiarized themselves with the overall program schedule. This was followed by participation, on July 7, in the 2025 Accreditation Case Study Report Conference organized by JUAA. At the conference, three universities accredited in 2024—University of Tsukuba, Kyoritsu Women’s University, and Kanagawa Dental University—shared their experiences in implementing Internal Quality Assurance (IQA), highlighting practices, challenges, and approaches to assessing student learning outcomes.

JUAA noted that the annual Case Study Report Conference is designed to facilitate experience sharing and emphasized that quality assurance systems should be developed in ways that reflect institutional characteristics and encourage innovation. Japanese higher education institutions continuously review whether their education, research, and administrative activities meet accreditation standards through well-established IQA mechanisms, using the PDCA cycle to drive ongoing quality improvement. JUAA further observed that in the fourth cycle of institutional accreditation, greater emphasis will be placed on the use of student learning outcomes to enhance the effectiveness of IQA systems. Through case-based discussions, institutions are encouraged to explore context-sensitive IQA strategies and practical implementation approaches.

By participating in the conference online, international interns gained first-hand exposure to real-world accreditation cases and deepened their understanding of key issues faced by Japanese universities during the accreditation process. TWAEA interns actively engaged in the discussions, raising questions such as how the University of Tsukuba addressed “evaluation fatigue” among faculty and staff while sustaining engagement, and how Kanagawa Dental University’s innovative five-stage learning system has impacted student development. Interns also shared perspectives from Taiwan’s quality assurance practices, fostering dynamic dialogue and mutual learning.

Looking ahead, the 2025 program also includes an on-site observation visit to Japan in early October. Through direct participation in the core operations of Japanese accreditation agencies, international interns will further deepen their understanding of cross-national quality assurance practices, strengthen long-term partnerships among the three organizations, and continue advancing international professional exchange in higher education quality assurance.