NCEQE’s annual conference on "Higher Education Quality Assurance Reform and Development Prospects” held on December 5-6, 2019 focused on reviewing of outcomes of the higher education QA reform in Georgia; this reform of the higher education quality assurance system is in line with the requirements of the European Higher Education Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG-2015) and the Agenda of Association Agreement between Georgia and the EU. 
The keynote speakers at the conference were international experts from EU-Twinning project, representatives of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia, the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR), World Federation for Medical Education (WFME), and from the NCEQE. Representatives of the partner local and international organizations, peer reviewers, student experts, and other stakeholders participated in the conference.

Conference presentations: 

1) Higher Education Quality Assurance Reform and Main Challenges 
Tamar Makharashvili – Acting Director of the National Center for Education Quality Enhancement; 

2) Accreditation of Educational Programs: Results for 2019 
Tea Nadiradze - Head of the Program Accreditation Division of the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement; 

3) Improving the Quality of Medical Education and WFME requirements 
Janet Grant - Special Adviser of the President of the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME), Director of the Medical Education Center (CenMEDIC); 

4) European Best Practice – Twinning at NCEQE (Twinning Project) 
Cay Etzold - Twinning Project, Foreign Advisor; 

5) Using ECTS and ECTS Tools to Best Advantage: Present and Future 
Katherine Isaacs - Bologna Follow-up Group Co-chair, Professor of the University of Pisa; 

6) Analysis of Development and Implementation of the Authorization Mechanism for Higher Education Institutions – 2018 
Irma Grdzelidze – Erasmus + Expert of Higher Education Reform; 
Irine Darchia - Erasmus + Expert of Higher Education Reform; 
Tamar Sanikidze - Erasmus + Expert of Higher Education Reform. 

7) The Shape of Education to Come: a Student-centered Perspective 
Heili Mattisen - Director of Estonian Higher and Professional Education Quality Assurance Agency (EKKA), Junior Leader of the Twinning Project; 

8) Authorization of Higher Education Institutions: Results for 2019 
Lali Giorgidze – Head of the Authorization Division of the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement; 

9) Current Challenges for Quality Assurance: Facilitating Automatic Recognition of Qualifications and Credentials 
Colin Tuck – Director of The European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR); 

10) Student-centered Learning: Approaches to Quality Assurance 
Anna Gover - European University Association (EUA), Institutional Development Program Manager.