Constitution

“EURASIAN CENTRE FOR ACCREDITATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE” (ECAQA) (Excerpt)

General provisions

The non-profit entity "Eurasian Centre for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education and Health Care" (hereinafter – the ECAQA) acts on the basis of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan of 27.12.1994, the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan of January 16, 2001 "About non-profit organizations" and is guided by other Laws and Regulations of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the present Constitution and the ECAQA internal guides.

The ECAQA is non-governmental non-profit organization to ensure the quality and competitiveness of Kazakhstan higher professional education at the international level through implementation of international standards and best practice principles of institutional and specialized (programme) accreditation and research in education and healthcare.

The ECAQA has an independent status and is fully responsible for its actions, and no third parties (educational organizations, ministries and other stakeholders) may affect conclusions and recommendations in reports of the expert commissions on external evaluation and decisions on the accreditation of higher education organizations and their educational programmes.

ECAQA is making its contribution to establish reliable and transparent national accreditation system on health professional education.

ECAQA is based on the fundamental principles of the WHO/WFME Guidelines for accreditation of medical education, Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG, Part 2,3) and involvement of all relevant stakeholders in accreditation process.

The ECAQA purposes

The purpose of the ECAQA is the organizational and methodological, resource support for institutional and specialized accreditation of educational organizations, health organizations, research organizations and centers, implementation of the international standards for institutional and specialized (programme) accreditation in medical, dental, pharmaceutical and nursing education, and public health.

ECAQA Governance and Administration

The ECAQA’s governance structure includes: Director General, Accreditation Council, Expert Board, Department for Planning and Administration, Department for Accreditation and Monitoring, Department for International Collaboration, Department for IT and Public Relations, Department for Accreditation and Monitoring, Finance and Audit Commission.

The ECAQA Accreditation Council is responsible for review the External Expert Commission site-visit report and other relevant information for making decision on accreditation of higher education organization and educational prgramme as well as the health organizations, and research centers implementing postgraduate educational programmes (Master, PhD and Residency training programmes) and continuing professional education; educational institutions implementing educational programmes of technical and vocational education; international schools.

The ECAQA Accreditation Council responsibilities are:

• quality assurance of higher education institutions and educational programmes, health organizations and research centres on basis of ECAQA’s standards for institutional and subject-specific programmes accreditation;
• providing the society with quality assurance on accredited educational programmes and/or the activities of accredited higher education institution, health organizations and research centres;
• decision on accreditation higher education institution, health organizations and research centres;

The Director General has the right to resolve all issues related to the labor relations in the ECAQA, establish the system, form and amount of remuneration of employees. The working schedule is established by the order of the Director General in accordance with the requirements of the existing labor legislation.

The Director General sings a contract with staff individually that defines mutual rights and responsibilities, working and payment terms and conditions.

Accounting and reporting

The ECAQA is responsible under the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan for compliance with the conduct and reliability of accounting and reporting.

Reorganization and termination of the ECAQA activities

Termination of ECAQA activities is accomplished by reorganization or elimination: upon the decision of its Founders General Meeting; in other cases, in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Rules for amendments to the Constitution

The adoption and introduction of amendments to the ECAQA constituent documents, including this Constitution is implemented by the General Meeting of Founders.