The Institute for Quality in Education, IQE, is a private institution that provides services to promote the quality in education. IQE conducts various activities, comprehensive studies, cooperates with educational institutions, with local and foreign experts and professionals, organizations or individuals and provides ongoing assistance in order to continuously improve the quality of education. Our focus is to change the approach and methodology of providing educational services by focusing more on technology, innovation and the labor market. One of the main directions of IQE activity is the evaluation of the quality of teaching and the performance of institutions which is based on the opinion of students attending a study program and academic staff. Students and academic staff assess the extent to which institutions meet their expectations regarding quality indicators or measurable indicators. After several years of experience in various processes organized by representatives of IQE in cooperation with international institutions and experts, seeks to bring it to the service of Albanian institutions thus contributing to the evaluation of quality and then its continuous improvement. In conducting evaluation activities, IQE rigorously implements the legal framework in force in higher education and quality assurance, internal acts of cooperating institutions and contractual relations with these institutions. IQE guarantees the right of the individual to the protection of anonymity and personal data and in no case uses them for interests other than the activity that takes place.
An education system is an arrangement that consists of at least one teacher and one student in a context, such as in a tutorial or via online comunication. Education systems must be intentional, where a teacher actively attempts to guide student learning. Education systems encompass all institutions that are concerned with educating students who are in K-12 and higher education. For students, the education system encompasses elementary school, middle school, high school and then college or university.
An education system refers to the economic and social factors that typically make up public schools at the federal, state or community levels. Such factors include public funding, school facilities, staffing, compensation, employee benefits, teaching resources and more. Education systems refer to the coordination of individuals (among teachers, administrators and students), infrastructure (including safe facilities and transportation) and functioning institutions and processes.
One of the key sources of development in any society is the educated people of that society, education directly or indirectly plays an important role to uplift the society as it gives radical thinking to the people which somewhere varnish the distinction between the upper and the lower class. Distinctions based on wealth, caste, creed, etc., are very fundamental in any society but they are also considered toxic for the development thus educating people of the society becomes even more important for the people. here are several Institutions established like schools and colleges which provide sources for learning and education people. Although, there are several confusions between education and learning, they both are different from each other.
- Qualifications Frameworks
Determining the level of the program (from 1 to 8, AQF-Albanian Qualification Framework), the structure and content should be in accordance with the respective knowledge, skills, and competencies of that level:
- knowledge, described as theoretical and/or factual.,
- Skills, described as cognitive (involving the use of logical, intuitive and creative thinking) and practical (involving manual dexterity and the use of methods, materials, tools and instruments),
- competencies (described in terms of responsibility and autonomy)
The descriptions of competency levels includes levels 5,6,7,8 according to AQF require a high level of the professional competence and experience in key areas such as natural, human and social sciences. economic and technological development. Curricula should be supported and developed beyond the capabilities and competencies of civil servants or civil servants involved in decision-making, complex problem solving, etc., based on profound professional knowledge and skills. These competencies are intertwined with specific requirements of respective positions at different levels of public administration.
The higher education programs structure is based on European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) [2] which is designed to make it easier for students to move between different countries. ECTS support the learning achievements and workload of a course, helps to make learning more student-centered, make national systems more compatible, helps with the planning, delivery, and evaluation of study programs, and makes them more transparent.
Study programs in Albania are organized on ECTS since 2007. The professional programs (after secondary education), are equivalent with 60 or 120 credits, referring to level 5 of AQF, the first cycle programs of the study, referred to level 6 of AQF are organized with not less than 180 European credits (ECTS) and their normal duration is three academic years. The second cycle of studies includes "Master of Science", "Master of Arts" and "Master of Science" study programs, referred to Level 7 of AQF. These are organized no less than 120 training credits following the first cycle and with a normal duration of two academic years or with 300 and 360 credits and with a normal duration of five and six academic years respectively. In the third cycle, there are master executive, specialization and doctoral programs.
The European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET), (approved 2009/C 155/02), is a set of principles which support the recognition of learning outcomes. As a technical framework for the transfer, recognition and accumulation of individuals’ learning outcomes, ECVET intend to facilitate the recognition of learning outcomes in accordance with Albanian and European legislation in the framework of mobility and qualification. ECVET is based on the division of qualifications into units/modules and on the description of learning outcomes of each module using the three descriptors of EQF; knowledge, skills, and competencies, making clear the EQF level of reference. So the reorganization of curricula into credits system, should be in accordance with ECTS and ECVET definitions.
Education vs Learning
The difference between education and learning is that education is a wider term that includes learning as a part of it, on the other hand, learning can be informal and does not necessarily mean reading books or getting educated with degrees.
| Parameters of Comparison | Education | Learning |
| Definition | Process of learning skills for gaining knowledge. | Process of gaining new understanding, skills, etc.. |
| Type of process | Formal | Informal |
| Source | Classroom learning | Personal experiences |
| Barriers | Age barriers | No barriers |
| Possession | Acquired specially | Present in all individuals |