International Technical Expert for the ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN) Constitution and By-Laws

About SHARE
The EU Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (EU SHARE) programme is a 57-month programme with an overall objective of contributing to the regional cooperation, enhancing the quality, regional competitiveness and internationalisation of ASEAN Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) contributing to an ASEAN Community in 2015 and beyond.

The programme has two specific objectives:

• To enhance the harmonisation of ASEAN higher education (HE) area through the formulation of ASEAN higher education frameworks taking into account the EU experience;
• To support mutual recognition and student mobility among HEIs in ASEAN to strengthen people-to-people connectivity.

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is the technical lead for Result Area 2b – Quality Assurance of SHARE’s programme implementation. In this capacity, we are seeking a Technical Expert for the execution of tasks in the field of Quality Assurance.

Objective and focus of the technical assistance
The objective and focus of the proposed assignment are to assist the above-mentioned Committee in reviewing and further refining the AQAN Constitution and By-Laws in view of the following:

• Ensure that the network can flexibly and sustainably meet current and future governance and financial requirements;
• Improve the effectiveness and assist in the smooth running of the Executive Committee;
• Strengthen the capacity and resources of the AQAN Secretariat;
• Identify necessary changes to ensure effectiveness, accountability and consistency with national authorities, external legislative environment, strategic partners and stakeholders;
• Increase roles and responsibilities of AQAN particularly in the implementation of the ASEAN Quality Assurance Framework in Higher Education (AQAF);
• Identify provisions necessary for the AQAN Secretariat to become a strong QA player in its own right with a well-functioning staff structure; and
• Address discrepancies between the current Constitution and By-Laws.

Review Guides
It is proposed that the review of the Constitution and By-Laws is guided by making reference to the constitutional setup of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), namely:

• Statutes of ENQA
• ENQA Rules of Procedure 19 October 2018

The above documents offer analytic information and useful guides to the Expert in ensuring that the review is in line with the good practices of other similar networks. The Expert shall also refer to other useful and relevant documents related to the objective and focus of the review.

Objectives of the assignment
1. Technical Expert for the AQAN Constitution and By-Laws

• Assist the benchmarking of the AQAN Constitution and By-Laws with the regulatory documents of other international quality assurance networks or organisations.
• Provide recommendations on possible provisions to the Review Committee for the AQAN Constitution & By-Laws, the AQAN Executive Committee, the roundtable & the AQAN Secretariat to revise the Constitution & By-Laws according to AQAN’s needs.
• Address discrepancies between the current Constitution and By-Laws as well as the AQAN Strategic Plan 2018-2022 (which is updated by a separate review committee).
• Facilitate sessions for the participants of a 2-day workshop in Malaysia to discuss and finalise the 2nd draft of the AQAN constitution & By-Laws;
• Provide inputs and recommendations during the 2-day workshop in Malaysia.

The expected output of this assignment is to benchmark and comment on the draft constitution as well as to provide recommendations from a European perspective (ENQA specifically). Additionally, it is expected that the Expert will submit a report EU SHARE that is at least 3-5 pages at length and provides in continuous text a summary of findings and recommendations concerning the Constitution & By-Laws as well as the methodology used in the analysis. Details can be agreed upon between the DAAD’s SHARE Project Management and the expert after the contract has been awarded.

Eligibility

1. Quantity: One expert/consultant.
   Qualifications – Expert or consultant in Quality Assurance with at least 15 years of professional work experience:

• Quality Assurance systems and/or frameworks in ASEAN member states;
• Design and development of regional quality frameworks and/or guidelines, including review guidelines and stipulations;
• Experience in the development of a QA framework in Europe;
• Experience as a member of an External Quality Assurance Agency;
• Experience as a board member of a regional association, organisation or network active in quality assurance.

Scope of work

1. The scope of this up to twelve work days assignment includes the following activities,
   1. Desk review of the AQAN Constitution and its By-Laws
   2. Benchmarking of the AQAN Constitution and By-Laws against the relevant documents of other regional QA network, predominantly ENQA.
   3. Conduct consultation sessions via video conference (e.g. Skype, Zoom, Google) with the relevant AQAN committees & staff of the AQAN Secretariat | minimum of three meetings over the course of the assignment (as requested by EU SHARE & AQAN);
   4. Intensive interaction with the EU SHARE and AQAN team through email; and
   5. Submission a report on the summary of findings & conclusions as well as recommendations concerning the Constitution & By-laws to be taken into consideration by AQAN (three to five pages at least).
2. Attend & chair the review workshop in February 2020 in Malaysia, with the specific task of facilitating sessions for the participants to discuss and finalise the 2nd draft of the AQAN constitution & By-Laws & provide inputs and recommendations.

Submit your proposals to qa-qf@share-asean.eu until 8th of January 2020 (23:59 hours GMT+7) at the latest.

More information, please download the Official Announcement