Legal framework for quality assurance in the Republic of Moldova higher education

¹ Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova, Republic of Moldova
² University of European Studies of Moldova, Republic of Moldova

Abstract

In the current economic context, quality has become a source of competitive advantage, and universities that want to achieve academic excellence must perceive quality as something integral to their activities. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate that without establishing an efficient mechanism for quality assurance and evaluation, higher education institutions turn into diplomas mills, being rather an impediment to the cultural, economic and social development of society. So, in order to ensure the success of the scientific approach, the following methods were used: scientific documentation; analytical-synthetic methods; the method of comparing and generalizing theoretical and practical data. The analysis of the quality of higher education in Moldova in terms of the provisions of the Bologna Process raised a fundamental question - the acute need for effective external evaluation mechanisms of higher education institutions in parallel with the internal mechanisms of institutions. As a result, following the empirical study, we conclude that the universities of the Republic of Moldova do not face significant problems that seriously affect the performance of the total quality management system, but they must really make efforts to improve the dimensions analyzed in within this research, in order to obtain the benefits expected from the implementation of the total quality management system.