EQAVET
EQAVET stands for European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training and means two things: firstly, the common European reference framework for quality assurance in initial and continuing vocational education and training and, secondly, the European network of reference points for quality in vocational education and training, of which RQB is one. We have been formally nominated by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Economic Affairs to represent Austria as a "National Reference Point" (NRP) in this EU network. All NRPs can be found here.
As a national reference point, we support the current EQAVET work programme (currently: 09/2021 - 08/2023), which includes conducting national peer reviews. The Austrian EQAVET peer review was hold for the first time in March 2023. In addition, RQB was involved as peer reviewer in EQAVET peer reviews in Spain, the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovenia.
We are also represented at the EQAVET Annual Network Meeting and take part in regular exchange and networking meetings. As the Austrian EQAVET NRP, we also receive financial support from the EU to implement national projects to improve the quality of vocational education and training. In our case, this is almost exclusively our involvement in and for QMS, the quality management system for Austrian schools.
The head of the Austrian reference centre, Franz Gramlinger, has been one of the 5 elected NRP representatives on the EQAVET Steering Committee for several years.
EQAVET supports the implementation of the EU Council Recommendation on Vocational Education and Training 2020 for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience. The VET Recommendation describes how EQAVET can be used to strengthen the quality of initial and continuing vocational education and training and presents the full EQAVET framework. This is based on the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 on the establishment of a European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Education and Training. This is a reference framework to which the member states have voluntarily committed themselves and in accordance with which they are developing national quality assurance concepts.
The European Reference Framework also contains ten indicators as an expression of certain quality criteria. The member states regularly report to the European Commission on these indicators. RQB is active in the European Network of Reference Centres and participates in regular exchange and networking meetings. In addition, RQB carries out national EQAVET projects to improve the quality of vocational education and training, which are funded by the EU.