About us

"ARQA" Agency for Recognition and Quality Assurance in Education is a non-profit non-governmental organization established in 2015 with the aim of promoting the development of the education quality assurance system through institutional and specialized (program) accreditation of educational organizations. As an external partner, ARQA supports educational institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan in their efforts to develop an internal quality assurance system through the accreditation process.
By engaging with stakeholders, ARQA contributes to enhancing the culture of quality in the educational environment and helps strengthen trust in the Kazakhstani education system.
Through its activities, ARQA supports and implements best international practices in quality assurance, taking into account the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

ARQA carries out accreditation of educational programs in the following fields of study: education, arts and humanities, medical sciences, social sciences, journalism and information, business, management and law, information and communication technologies, engineering, manufacturing and construction industries, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary sciences.

Institutional and programme accreditation procedures

Independent assessment of the specialists' qualification level

Training of external experts

Recognition by the Ministry

According to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Education", the recognition of national and foreign accreditation bodies represents the official procedure for confirming the authority of a legal entity to conduct institutional accreditation of educational organizations and/or specialized accreditation of educational programs. The Register of Recognized Accreditation Bodies (hereinafter – Register 1) is a list of accreditation bodies that are full members of international and European networks for quality assurance in education, recognized on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan by the authorized state bodies in the field of education and science for conducting institutional and/or specialized accreditation. The recognition of an accreditation body and its inclusion in Register 1 is confirmed once every five years. Currently, the ARQA Agency is recognized by both authorized bodies — the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan — and is included in Register 1 for a period of five years in accordance with the current procedure for recognition of accreditation bodies.

Mission

Goals

Strategic plan

Dissemination of the ideology of qualitative culture in the Agency’s sphere of activity.

To increase the alignment of higher, postgraduate, as well as technical and vocational education with the best global practices in the field of education through high-quality accreditation activities. To become one of the leading quality assurance agencies operating in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. To increase the number of highly professional experts in the field of quality assurance in education through their training.

The ARQA Strategic Development Plan for 2017–2023 outlines the main directions for the development of the agency and external stakeholders in the field of education, taking into account ARQA’s mission, vision, values, and goals, as well as defining the methods for achieving them. The Strategic Plan was developed by ARQA's management and approved by the Accreditation Council. The full text of the ARQA Strategic Development Plan for 2017–2023 is available in the “Internal Quality Assurance” section.