The Agency for the Accreditation of Higher Education in Albania (established in the year 1999 by decision of the Council of Ministers) is responsible for the evaluation of the quality of higher education programs and higher education institutions in Albania. Quality assurance is one of the important conditions in the transformation of higher education to meet the Bologna standards. Aware of the importance of the process, OSFA designed a project to assist the Agency build its capacities.

With two year duration, the project is dedicated to creating the necessary conditions for the Agency to strengthen the capacities towards fulfilling its functional duties. Some of the main activities in the project include the provision of foreign expertise, exchange of experience with more advanced counterpart institutions, participation in international conferences, staff training and lobbying activities to improve the standing of the Agency with academic circles and the society at large, as well as to increase the Agency’s independence by expanding its institutional and legal powers.

Among the first activities of the Agency mention can be made of the establishment of the Group of Friends of the Agency (an informal body with members from the academia and the Government to act as supporter and promoter of the Agency at these levels); a visit by the Chair of the Austrian Accreditation Council in Tirana, the design of an internet website for the Agency; and the institution of steps to make the Agency a member of the European Network for Quality Assurance (ENQA).