The annual international conference held by the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement addressed key issues in higher, vocational, general, and early childhood and preschool education, focusing on quality assurance achievements and challenges.

The conference opened with a keynote address by the Minister of Education, Science and Youth of Georgia, Giorgi Amilakhvari. He stressed the crucial role of quality assurance at all levels of education.

The NCEQE’s 2023 accomplishments and 2024 plans were a key topic of discussion at the conference.

The first day of the conference delved into the specific issues within the realm of higher education quality assurance. Topics discussed included the principle trends in higher education policy, the key aspects of evaluating institutional and educational programmes, analysis of the outcomes from the first and second cycles of cluster accreditation of educational programmes, challenges in formulating and enhancing subject benchmark statements, nuances of recognizing foreign education, and establishing the validity of qualifications.

Within the framework of the first day of the conference, another significant topic was also highlighted: the impact of artificial intelligence on the teaching-learning and research process, educational administration, and quality assurance mechanisms and procedures.

The second day of the conference focused on significant achievements and challenges encountered in advancing the quality assurance in general education.

Conference attendees engaged in discussions on key trends in general education policy, includingupdates in the National Curriculum - Main Mandatory Principles for Schools; Lifelong Professional Development in Quality Assurance - A Canadian Perspective; The model and importance of profile schools in the modern world - on the example of German Diploma (DSD) schools; Pathway to Capacity Building - Strengthening of General Education Institutions post quality assessment process and other important issues.

The third day of the conference concentrated on the notable advancements and challenges in the development of quality assurance of vocational education, as well as early and preschool education.

The participants of the conference discussed the innovations of vocational education reform and the main trends of the policy. Local and international experiences related to vocational education issues were shared.

In the field of early and preschool education, the conference participants discussed quality assurance issues and system development trends, including the progress of early and preschool education reform; self-evaluation methodology and the initial results of self-evaluation of early and pre-school education institutions; global practice of alternative pre-school education models, and the challenges of training caregivers and educators. 

During the conference, representatives from early and preschool education institutions shared their best practices in different areas.

The conference saw participation from a wide array of stakeholders, including representatives from the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Georgia, legal entities of public law under the ministry, and the representatives from higher, vocational, general and early and preschool education institutions and the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement, as well as representatives of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR), the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME), the European University Association (EUA), the European Students' Union (ESU), also local and international experts, members of the center's coordination council, members of the council of accreditation of educational programmes, the authorization council of higher educational institutions and appeals council, the authorization and accreditation experts, students, employers and other interested parties, as well as representatives of partner local and international organizations.