Thai Reviewers’ Training for iJAS Plus
30 April 2024 │Bangkok, Thailand

On 30 April 2024, the training of iJAS reviewers was conducted, by both an in-person meeting

at the ONESQA office and an online remote from TWAEA in Taiwan and JUAA in Japan, with
the goal of strengthening the Thai reviewers' comprehension of the iJAS system as the external quality assurance for higher education.

In an effort to support the internationalization of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the Asian region, the idea of International Join Accreditation Standards (iJAS) was initially proposed by

JUAAand TWAEA. Since 2020, the two agencies had expanded this collaboration to include ONESQA. The distinctive feature of the iJAS, as a cross-border framework for quality assurance, was that the evaluation focused on a university’s internal quality assurance system.

For the time being, the evaluation criteria now included the standard of Thai arts and culture preservation, specifically " iJAS Plus " which was exclusive to Thai HEIs, to align with the Ministerial Regulation on 2022 Higher Education Standards imposed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), Thailand.

Throughout the one-day training program, the iJAS reviewers obtained an understanding of the iJAS initiative, as well as skills for opinion writing and interviewing. They also received terminological explanations on accrediting standards and indicators, including the preservation of Thai arts and culture as a standard plus. Thus, the training of iJAS reviewers was a preparation before onsite visit and also a crucial step in the three agencies' international joint accreditation process.

Accordingly, a voluntary external quality evaluation with an international equivalent will be available for Thai HEIs through the iJAS Plus system, after it has been developed and customized to make it more acceptable, the iJAS Plus trial evaluation will be necessary to pinpoint areas that still need improvement. Nakhorn Si Thammarat Rajabhat University (NSTRU), as the recipient of the iJAS Plus trial evaluation, will be evaluated this year in accordance the plan.