Georgia: With the support of the National Center for the Development of Quality Education, LLC-Georgian Business Academy (SBA) hosted the first cooperation visit among vocational educational institutions in 2024 on the topic “Functioning of the internal quality assurance system of vocational educational institutions.”
62 representatives of 36 public and private vocational educational institutions throughout Georgia participated in the cooperation visit.
Within the framework of a cooperative visit, the college “Georgian Business Academy-SBA” presented a presentation to the representatives of the visiting institution about the implanted practice of the functioning of the internal quality assurance system of the college and also held a short excursion for the visitors to get acquainted with the material-technical base and ongoing processes of the college.
During the visit, three professional educational institutions selected by the Center and the host institutions presented their experience and practice on issues specified for the visit.
During the visit, four panel discussions were held with representatives of the administration of the host institutions, professional teachers, students, and employers.
It is significant that on the second day of the visit, representatives of visiting colleges participated in the facilitation of panel discussions by the European Education Foundation (ETF) through the renewed methodology of cooperative visits.
After presentations, participation in panel discussions, environment observation, and familiarization with relevant documentation, the representatives of visiting institutions presented their feedback to the institution on issues covered by the theme of the visit.
It is noteworthy that in 2024, one more cooperative visit will be held on the topic of “Organizing the mid-term evaluation,” for which the host and visitor institutions are planned to be revealed in the second half of the year.
Notably, a cooperative visit has no legal consequences and is equally beneficial for both the host and the representatives of visiting institutions.
Participation in a cooperative visit is voluntary. It strengthens the capacity of both host and visiting institutions, aims to establish a network of cooperation between professional educational institutions, and supports quality-oriented educational institutions.
Due to the high interest in participating in the process of cooperative visits, the Center will continue to work on developing the methodology of cooperative visits, and institutions implementing educational programs will still have the opportunity to participate in cooperative visits with the status of a host or visitor institutions.
