CIMQUSEF 2026 & EVALSUP 2026

Attendees, exhibitors & solutions

Who this event is for

Industry trends

Key trends shaping this market and its wider industry.

Hotel tiers

A range of accommodation options near the venue and across key areas.

Local transport

Get around the city with these convenient transport options.

Frequently asked

Glossary

1

Quality assurance (QA)

The planned and systematic processes a ministry, university, school or training centre uses to confirm that programmes, teaching and outcomes meet agreed standards. At CIMQUSEF the term usually covers both internal processes run by the institution and external processes run by a national agency or peer body.

2

Internal quality assurance (IQA)

The institution's own system of policies, committees, data collection and periodic review that keeps programmes and teaching on standard between external evaluations. IQA is where most conference discussions land, because it is the part of the system that institutions actually control day to day.

3

External quality assurance (EQA)

Evaluation carried out by a body outside the institution, such as a national accreditation agency or an international review panel. EQA typically follows a self-evaluation, a document review and a site visit, and ends in a published decision or recommendation.

4

Accreditation

A formal, time-limited decision that a programme or institution meets a defined set of standards, usually granted by a ministry or an authorised agency. Accreditation cycles drive much of the paperwork that quality officers bring to events like CIMQUSEF.

5

Self-evaluation report (SER)

The structured document an institution writes before an external review, describing its programmes, evidence, strengths and improvement plans against each standard. A weak SER is the most common reason a site visit becomes adversarial.

6

Peer review panel and site visit

A team of external academics and professionals that reads the self-evaluation, interviews staff and students on site and produces a judgement or advisory report. Panellists look for evidence behind claims, not for polished presentations.

7

Programme learning outcomes (PLOs)

Statements of what a graduate should know and be able to do at the end of a programme, written before the curriculum and assessment are designed. PLOs are the hinge between curriculum reform and any credible assessment of quality.

8

Standards and guidelines

The reference framework a review is measured against, covering areas such as governance, curriculum, staff, resources, student support and public information. National frameworks differ, which is why cross-border recognition and benchmarking are recurring CIMQUSEF themes.

9

Quality culture

The shared habits, incentives and expectations that make staff and students treat improvement as normal work rather than a compliance exercise. It is usually measured through surveys, focus groups and evidence of how review findings actually get acted on.

10

Continuous improvement cycle

The plan-do-check-act loop applied to a programme, course or service: set a target, run the change, measure the result, adjust. Reviewers increasingly ask institutions to show the loop closing, not just the plan document.

11

Key performance indicators in education

Quantitative measures such as success rates, progression, dropout, graduate employment, staff qualifications and student satisfaction. Indicators are only useful when the definition is stable across years and the data source is documented.

12

Student-centred learning

A design principle where teaching and assessment are organised around what students actually need to achieve the learning outcomes, including workload, feedback timing and active learning. It is one of the standards most often examined in programme reviews.

13

Employability and graduate outcomes

Evidence that graduates can enter and progress in relevant work, including tracer studies, employer feedback and skills-mismatch analysis. Ministries and funders use these outcomes as a proxy for whether quality systems are delivering.

14

Benchmarking

Comparing your own standards, processes or outcomes against a peer institution, a national framework or an international reference. At CIMQUSEF, benchmarking is usually discussed as a practical alternative to importing a foreign accreditation model wholesale.

15

Quality officer

The staff role responsible for running self-evaluations, collecting evidence, coordinating reviews and following up recommendations. In smaller institutions the role is often combined with teaching or academic administration, which shapes what training the sector asks for.