On 23 June 2021 MusiQuE presented its first-ever webinar – ‘Quality assurance in higher (music) education: a webinar for staff and students’. The event focused on giving an introduction to the field of quality assurance in higher education and was open to staff, students and management in (higher) music education institutions. More than 60 participants from over 30 countries attended the webinar.

The speakers included Tia Loukkola (European University Association), Maria Kelo (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) and Martin Prchal (Royal Conservatoire The Hague and former MusiQuE Chairperson). Gordon Munro, current MusiQuE Chairperson, moderated the debate.

Tia Loukkola gave a general introduction to quality assurance, going over its history and the differences between external and internal quality assurance. She reminded the audience about the creation and the importance of the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESGs).

Maria Kelo then presented ENQA, the European Network for Quality Assurance which gathers more than 50 quality assurance agencies within and outside the European higher education area. She went over the main developments and progress made in the field of quality assurance over the past decades and gave more details concerning cross-border quality assurance. The European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (revised in 2015) have significantly consolidated the quality assurance culture, but much remains to be done.

Martin Prchal concluded the series of presentations by explaining how the creation of MusiQuE by AEC, the European Music School Union (EMU) and Pearle* – Live Performance Europe, enabled the higher music education sector to take control and ownership of its own view on quality assurance. He highlighted MusiQuE’s approach to quality, which brings together artistic standards and educational quality, and the subject-specific and international dimensions of its work.

An interesting discussion followed involving all three speakers, as well as AEC CEO Stefan Gies, who clarified the division of roles between MusiQuE and AEC.

Bellow, you are able to access the presentations from the speakers.