VOTING RULES FOR ACCREDITATION AND PROJECT EVALUATION PROCEDURES

I. Terms for voting on accreditation and project evaluation procedures – general provisions

1. The procedures for accreditation and evaluation of projects, which are carried out according to Art. 81, para. 4 and 5 of the Higher Education Act (HEA) and Art. 35, para. 3, Art. 36, para. 1, art. 38, para. 2 of NEAA Rules of Procedure, respectively, require that the voting decision contain assessments of the fulfillment of the criteria for accreditation and evaluation of projects, adopted by the Accreditation Council on October 20, in compliance with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) - Part 1 / 1-10 / and within the meaning of Art. 77, para 2, Art. 78, para 3 and art. 81, para. 6 of the HEA (Tables 1-6).

1.1. When assessing the fulfilment of the accreditation and project evaluation criteria, the methodology for the evaluation of NEAA Criterion system according to Art. 79, para. 1 of the HEA and the verbal assessments of ENQA are applied.

1.2. The Accreditation Council has the right not to comply with the assessments proposed in the report of the Standing Committee and to return the report to the Standing Committee according to Art. 37 of the Rules of Procedure of NEAA if it has established that the evidence is insufficient or the proposed assessments do not correspond to the established facts and evidence.

2. The evaluation also reflects the implementation of the recommendations from the previous accreditation and the procedure for post-accreditation monitoring and control within the meaning of Art. 29, para. 1, item 2 of the Rules of Procedure of NEAA.

3. After the expiration of the term under Art. 35, para. 2 and after the expiration of the term under Art. 38, para. 1 of the Rules of Procedure of NEAA, respectively, the Chairperson of the Standing Committee by area of higher education shall submit and present to the Accreditation Council:

3.1. A report on the results of the evaluation of the procedures under Art. 81, para. 4 of the HEA.

3.2. Information about the adopted decision of the relevant Standing Committee for procedures under Art. 81, para. 5 of the HEA.

4. The Chairperson of a Standing Committee by area of higher education shall not participate in the work of the Expert panel approved by the Accreditation Council in terms of a composition and tasks and in accordance with Art. 33, para. 4 of the Rules of Procedure of NEAA.

5. The membership of the Expert panel shall include as full members: a student / a doctoral student, Bulgarian / foreign experts, as well as representatives of professional and branch organisations and employers' associations.

6. A member of a Standing Committee by area of higher education, designated by the Accreditation Council, shall only participate in the work of the Expert panel and in the preparation of its report as a supervisor of the procedure.

7. Only members of the Expert Panel and the supervisor of the procedure under Art. 34, para. 1 of the Rules of Procedure of NEAA shall participate in the visit for inspection of the institution under evaluation.

8. In the case of distance learning, the Expert panel shall include also a distance learning expert.

9. Before submitting to the Accreditation Council, the report/decision of the Standing Committee by area of higher education shall be certified by the signature of the Committee’s Chair.

10. The Expert panel’s report shall be certified by the signatures of the members of the expert panel and the accreditation procedure supervisor.

II. Procedure for voting on accreditation and project evaluation procedures

1. At the proposal of the Chairperson of the Accreditation Council / of the Standing Committee by area of higher education, the members of the respective body shall elect a panel of voters by open ballot voting and by a simple majority consisting of two members. The term of office of the elected committee is only for the relevant meeting of the Accreditation Council / the Standing Committee by area of higher education, and when it is necessary - more than one voting committee may be elected in a specific meeting with a view to avoiding conflicts of interest.

2. In voting, the members of the Accreditation Council shall fill out a model sheet[1] in which they assess each criterion of the accreditation procedures as follows:

2.1. For institutional accreditation (under Art. 81, para. 1, item 1 of the HEA) with an assessment of "0 to 10.00";

2.2. For programme accreditation of specialities of the regulated professions (under Article 81, paragraph 1, item 2, letter "a" of the HEA) with an assessment of "0 to 10, 00";

2.3. For doctoral programmes of the regulated professions (under Article 81 (1) (2), letter "в" of the HEA) with an assessment of "0 to 10, 00";

2.4. For projects for opening / transformation of a higher education institution; opening a main unit or affiliate; opening specialties from the regulated professions (under Article 81, para. 1, items 3, 4, 5 and 6, letter “a" of the HEA) with a "positive" or "negative" rating.

3. When voting, the members of the relevant Standing Committee by area of ​​higher education shall fill in a model sheet for each criterion of points from 0 to the maximum number of procedures as follows:

3.1. For professional fields;

3.2. For doctoral programmes other than those of the regulated professions;

3.3. For a project of a professional field.

4. The voting committee set up under item 1 above shall collect the individual evaluation sheets filled by the members of the Accreditation Council or the members of the Standing Committee and check whether they have been filled in correctly (name, signature, grades/points for each criterion).

5. The voting committee shall transmit on an electronic work table the scores, respectively the points for each criterion, presented in the individual evaluation sheets.

6. The fulfilment of the accreditation and project criteria is determined by the methodology for evaluation of NEAA Criterion System adopted by the Accreditation Council on 20.10.2016.

7. The voting committee shall fill in, sign and transfer the work table to the Chairperson of the Accreditation Council / respectively to the Chairperson of the Standing Committee by area of ​​higher education who shall announce the result of the vote.

8. The Chairperson of the Accreditation Council shall hand over the work table with the individual evaluation sheets on the procedure to the Secretary General of the Agency / respectively the Chairperson of the Standing Committee by area of ​​higher education shall hand over the work table with the individual evaluation sheets on the procedure to the Chief expert of the SCBAHE, which is sealed in an envelope and handed over to the to the Secretary General

9. The Secretary General shall keep the records referred to in item 8 above, in a sealed envelope within the specified time limit, until they are submitted to the NEAA's archives.

These Rules were adopted at a meeting of the Accreditation Council of NEAA held on 05.02.2015, supplemented on 11.06.2015 and on 17.11.2016 and repeal all existing internal voting rules.

ATTACHMENT 1

Compliance between numerical (in accordance with HEA) and verbal (according to the scale of EKNQ) assessments

The use of verbal assessments means that:

"Full compliance" is awarded to the criterion, which has received a numerical score of 9.00 to 10.00;

“Substantial compliance” is awarded to the criterion, which has received a numerical score of 7.00 to 8.99;

“Partial compliance” is awarded to the criterion, which received a numerical score of 4.00 to 6.99;

"Non-compliance" is awarded to the criterion, which has received a numerical score of 0 to 3.99.

[1] See a sample model sheet for the relevant procedure.