On March 1, 2013 the National University of Science and Technology “MISA” hosted a meeting of the National Accreditation Board with the purpose of making an independent collegial decision on the quality of study programmes offered in Kazan State Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation, M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, Dagestan State University and A.S. Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language.

Kazan State Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation submitted 1 study programme: “Medical Care”. Dagestan State University submitted 3 study programmes: “Theory and Methodology of Foreign language Teaching and Cultures”, “Foreign Philology”, “Linguistics”. M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk submitted for review 3 study programme: “Applied Mathematics and Computer Sciences”, “Information Technologies (Fundamental Computer Science and Information Technology)” and “Medical Care”. A.S. Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language submitted the study programme “Philology”, as well as programmes for post graduate professional education “Russian Language”, “Theory and Methodology of Education (Russian as a Foreign Language).  All the submitted study programmes were accredited for a period of 6 years.  A.S. Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language submitted 13 programmes of continuing professional education.

Evaluation of the quality of study programmes was carried out by the Review Panel which included European and Russian Experts as well as employers’ and students’ representatives.

Two questions covered in the agenda during the meeting of the National Accreditation Board were: procedures for decision making on accreditation and procedures for the work of Review Panels. Members of the Board considered the following documents: Regulations on the Appeal Procedure, the Regulation on the Appeal Committee and the draft of the Appeal Committee Members.

Another document, which was presented for the Board’s approval was “Guidelines for the External Evaluation”. Such document is required, as a step by step algorithm that prescribes actions, rights and responsibilities of all parties involved in the procedure, code of ethics of expert and the requirements to the absence of conflict of interest. These documents have been tested for two years during the accreditation procedures and proposed for approval by the Board.

For Board’s approval there was submitted a draft of the Reference Book “The Best Educational Programmes of Innovative Russia”, following the results of the third stage of the Russian project, which aims at studying public opinion on the quality of educational programmes offered by Russian universities.

NCPA’s director Vladimir Navodnov gave a description of the objectives and methodology of the survey, results of the analysis of expert opinion on the best programmes at universities in federal districts and cohorts of special training.