Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education*

University teaching staff who wish to become ARACIS expert evaluators must go through a process that includes meeting eligibility conditions and evaluation criteria. Admission to the National Register of Expert Evaluators (teaching staff) RNE-CD is done by going through two successive stages.

Eligibility conditions:

Ø Must be tenured teaching staff with an indefinite-term individual employment contract, holding the academic rank of lecturer, associate professor, or university professor, with experience in quality assessment of education.

Ø The teaching staff must prove experience in the field of quality assurance in higher education.

Ø They must apply for a single field of bachelor’s university studies or for forms of distance and part-time higher education programs.

Ø There must be an active call for applications for the selected field of bachelor’s university studies or for forms of distance and part-time higher education.

Evaluation criteria

Ø Candidates have didactic and scientific research experience in the field of university studies for which they apply or for forms of distance and part-time higher education programs;

Ø Candidates have experience in university management, acquired through:

· being members in the management structures at university level or their equivalents;

· holding managerial positions in a higher education institution or an education provider or their equivalents

Ø Candidates prove knowledge of at least one international language;

Ø Candidates have not been sanctioned for violation of academic ethics and professional deontology rules.

The admission of teaching staff to the National Register of Expert Evaluators (teaching staff), RNE-CD, is done through an electronic platform, available at: https://rne.aracis.ro. Applications submitted by other means of communication are not accepted for analysis. Each teaching staff member must first register on the electronic platform https://rne.aracis.ro/înregistrare.aspx.

Submission of documents:

· Electronically via the platform https://rne.aracis.ro.

· Program: Monday – Friday 08.00 – 16.00

Required documents:

1. CV of the teaching staff – this will be filled in directly on the platform https://rne.aracis.ro.

2. Certificate – issued by the higher education institution from which the candidate comes, certifying that they are tenured teaching staff, with an indefinite-term individual employment contract, holding the academic rank of lecturer, associate professor or university professor;

3. Statement on their own responsibility that they have not been sanctioned for violating the rules of academic ethics and professional deontology.

Admission stages

· Stage I - involves meeting the eligibility conditions and evaluation criteria according to the information provided in the CV and documents uploaded to the platform by the candidates. The Commission of Permanent Experts (CEP) analyzes these applications and issues substantiated opinions regarding the admission or rejection of the applications. The executive office of ARACIS validates the CEP’s proposal regarding acceptance or rejection of the application. The communication, as the case may be, of the decision to accept/reject the application, is made by e-mail.

To proceed to stage II, it is necessary to successfully complete stage I.

· Stage II - involves taking a test to assess knowledge regarding evaluation and quality assurance in higher education, according to the bibliography available at https://www.aracis.ro/bibliografie-aracis-rne/., with a minimum required score of 70% of the maximum possible.

The admission of candidates to the RNE-CD is done with the approval of the ARACIS Council, after successfully completing the two admission stages.

The Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS) evaluates undergraduate university study programs of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) based on a request from the institutions regarding the initiation of external evaluation of the quality of undergraduate university study programs.

STEP 1.

Required documents:

• Request to initiate the external evaluation procedure;
• Certificate regarding the registration/update of the university study program in RNCIS (obtained from the National Qualifications Authority (ANC)), which is submitted together with the request.

Document submission:

By email to solicitari.evaluare@aracis.ro

Schedule: Monday – Friday 08:00 – 16:00

STEP 2.

• After verification and registration of the request, the Institutional Relations and Informatization Service accesses RNE (https://rne.aracis.ro/Login.aspx) and, through an interface, generates in SharePoint the portal structure for the evaluation with the data provided in the request;
• Grants permissions in the evaluation portal for the HEI;
• SRII sends to the HEI an email to the institutional contact person informing them about subsequent procedural aspects such as:
• Uploading by the HEI of the Internal Evaluation Report (REI);
• Sending the service contract in editable format (specifying that it will be signed by the HEI in 2 (two) original handwritten copies and sent promptly to ARACIS (post/courier services));

STEP 3 - Conformity of the Internal Evaluation Report (REI)

• After uploading the REI, the Quality Assurance Directorate verifies the conformity of the REI with the Guide for conducting the external quality evaluation procedures for provisional authorization, accreditation or maintaining the accreditation of an undergraduate university study program.
• If the REI is compliant, ARACIS signs the service contract.
• If the REI is non-compliant, the Institutional Relations and Informatization Service, depending on the findings from the REI conformity sheet, informs the institutional contact person about aspects that need to be remedied (they will be indicated in the body of the email).
• The deadline to re-upload the revised/completed REI is specified (maximum 5 (five) days from the request for revision/completion);

STEP 4

Required documents:

• Internal evaluation report of the undergraduate university study program subject to external evaluation;
• Service contract signed by the higher education institution (in two copies)
• REI compliance (see STEP 3)
• Proof of payment of the evaluation fee.

Document submission:

• Electronically in SharePoint in the evaluation portal
• Schedule: Monday – Friday 08:00 – 16:00.
• After receiving the service contract signed by the HEI representatives, it is signed by ARACIS representatives, registered, then the invoice is issued and sent via the RO e-Invoice system to the HEI for payment (the invoice will be paid within 10 working days);

Evaluation fees

Fees are paid in RON by payment order/bank transfer mentioning the account below:

Beneficiary: Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education

Fiscal identification code: 18476245

Bank: A.T.C.M.P. Bucharest Municipality

IBAN code: RO36TREZ70020F335000XXXX

Documents issued by ARACIS to higher education institutions following the submission of documents from STEP 4:

• service contract signed by ARACIS;
• invoice;
• entry - receipt note.

The documents will be sent in an original copy to the higher education institutions by mail, with acknowledgment of receipt.

Following the submission of the entire documentation by the higher education institutions (as described above), the ARACIS Council approves the committees of experts for the external quality evaluation of undergraduate university study programs.