Print version Recommend this page Press release
02/ 2009
Bonn, 13.01.2009
BIBB sets up National Reference Point for Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training
Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research has tasked the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) with setting up a National Reference Point for Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training (DEQA-VET). This office will be part of a European network and have the objective of extending and deepening the exchange of information and experience and boosting sustained collaboration in the area of quality assurance and quality development in vocational education and training. The DEQA-VET's work will be aimed primarily at persons who hold positions of responsibility in the education and training field. Quality assurance national reference points will be set up in all EU Member States in the course of the next few years. Through their practical work, these offices will supplement and support the European quality assurance network ENQA-VET which was established in the autumn of 2005. Representatives of national ministries have teamed up in the ENQA-VET network to coordinate the activities of this quality assurance campaign at political level.
Manfred Kremer, president of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, welcomes the decision of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, noting, "The importance of quality assurance and quality development in the vocational training field has grown continually in all European countries in recent years. There is great interest in an extended exchange of information and experience. It is therefore only logical that we set up national coordination centres. BIBB is the national centre of excellence for vocational education and training in Germany and through its involvement in the ENQA-NET and DEQA-VET, it can bring its long-standing expertise in the area of quality assurance and quality development to bear in productive ways for the entire network."
In its capacity as the National Reference Point for Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training, BIBB will be the "first point of contact" for matters involving quality assurance and quality development in vocational education and training. BIBB will foster and expand collaborative activities with European institutions and bodies from other European countries and will make available current information on activities involving quality assurance and quality development in Germany.
BIBB will also inform about the work of the ENQA-VET network in Germany and support the implementation of the EU working programme in Germany. With an eye to fostering the exchange of information, there are plans to develop an internet portal with modern communication tools such as forums, blogs and wikis and to conduct national and international conferences and workshops.
In addition, BIBB will highlight the growing importance of quality assurance and quality development in the vocational education and training field, present its principles, methods and tools, explain the advantages their use offers - for measuring success, for instance - and identify new fields in which quality improvements should be targeted.
BIBB's work in this area is based on the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Education and Training (EQARF), which the European Parliament approved on 18 December 2008. The Council of Ministers of the European Union is expected to pass a resolution on the EQARF this spring.
Further information is available at BIBB from:
- Thomas Gruber, Tel.: +49 (0)228 107 1307; E-mail: gruber@bibb.de
- Horst Mirbach, Tel.: +49 (0)228 107 1532; E-mail: mirbach@bibb.de
