Progress and achievements in the implementation of the National Model of evaluation and Accreditation of higher education in Paraguay, from the perspective of key stakeholders and ANEAES documents

Abstract

In Paraguay, the ANEAES established the National Model for evaluation and accreditation of higher education, that was approved in 2007. The objective of the study was to describe the progress and achievement regarding the implementation of the National Model from the perspective of key actors from the Agency of the year 2020. The research was descriptive with a qualitative approach. The applied technique was an in-depth interview and document analysis. The sample was intentional; the study subjects were selected according to the Agency’s organization chart considering the functions they fulfilled. As a result of the study, it was found that the influence of the regional context and the educational MERCOSUR agreements has facilitated the enactment of the law creating the ANEAES. Later on, the mechanisms for evaluation and accreditation were elaborated. The main difficulties included resistance to evaluation processes by some universities, budgetary problems and insufficient human resources for the Agency. The palliative strategies consisted of a system for optimizing technical staff, management to have budgetary resources, peer evaluators training and so forth. In regard to quantitative achievements, the evaluation and accreditation mechanisms available to the National Model stood out, as well as the amount of quality criteria developed for the evaluation and accreditation of undergraduate and graduate programs. Among the qualitative achievements, the credibility of the IES and society itself towards the accreditation processes implemented by the Agency stood out. Challenges that were faced highlighted the creation of new evaluation and accreditation mechanisms, the elaboration of new quality criteria, the training and registration of new peer evaluators and the inter-institutional work with the governing bodies of higher education in our country.