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Data-driven Quality Management and Intelligent Systems for Academic Processes and Flexible Decision-Making, 11 September 2025, Burgas
Photo: Flagman
On 11 September 2025, in the city of Burgas, the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency held a Special Session on the subject of “Data-driven Quality Management and Intelligent Systems for Academic Processes and Flexible Decision-Making”, which was part of the 16th International Conference FQAS 2025, organized by Burgas State University “Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov” and the Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. During the special session, scientific reports were presented on the session’s topics, and representatives of Bulgarian universities were given the opportunity to exchange experience and good practices in the field of data collection and processing.
Photo: Flagman
The session also included three presentations from international guests invited by NEAA – Dan Cook, Director of Data Policy and Research at the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK); Charles Watson, Senior Risk Manager at the Office for Students (OfS), the quality assurance agency for higher education in England, UK; and Heli Mattisen, Member of the Board of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA).
Photo: NEAA
Mr. Cook from HESA presented to the session participants the history and process of building the overall data infrastructure related to higher education in the UK. The infrastructure was developed in cooperation with all stakeholders – higher education institutions, quality assurance agencies, governmental and non-governmental institutions. As of 2025, HESA collects and processes data from over 3,000,000 students, over 900,000 graduates, and over 240,000 academic and administrative staff at higher education institutions in the UK.
The Office for Students (OfS) is the institution responsible for quality assurance in higher education in England, UK. Mr. Watson presented to the participants the structure and function of the OfS, as well as its approach to data collection and processing. He also presented the ways in which the OfS can investigate non-compliance with quality standards and, when necessary, ensure their enforcement.
Photo: NEAA
As a member of ENQA, NEAA is obliged to comply with and apply the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG). In the period 2025–2027, discussions and implementation of amendments to the Standards and Guidelines are forthcoming. Ms. Heli Mattisen presented to the participants a presentation prepared jointly with Anna Gover, Director of ENQA, which outlined the main areas where amendments are proposed, as well as the timeframe for discussion, voting, and implementation of the changes.
The visit of the colleagues from the United Kingdom was carried out with the assistance of the British Council.
Photo: NEAA
„Presentation of Heli Mattisen – „Revision of the ESG”
„Presentation of Dan Cook – „The UK’s Higher Education Data Infrastructure (and how we built it!)”
„Presentation of Charles Watson– „The Office for Students“
„Presentation of Heli Mattisen - „Revision of the ESG”
*Due to technical issues during the event, we do not have a complete recording of the presentations by Mr. Cook and Mr. Watson. We apologize for the inconvenience.
