Last week, the 9th IREG conference has been held at the University of Hasselt in Belgium. The theme of the conference was "Accreditation and ratings: two roads to the same goal?"

IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence is an international association uniting rating organizations, experts in the field of higher education and representatives of universities. The main objective of the IREG Observatory is to analyze and audit global and national university rankings, study their role and impact on the quality of higher education, research the best international practices for the transformation of universities aimed at improving their global competitiveness.

The conference was attended by representatives of MEPhI, headed by the rector M.N. Strikhanov. The report of MEPhI’s rector aroused great interest: he spoke about the impact of accreditation of educational programs and ratings on the management of the development strategy of the University, the main achievements of the universities participating in the Project 5-100, transformation of MEPhI in management, science and education.

The conference included election of the new President of IREG – Luiz Claudio Costa, the former Minister of education of Brazil, vice-rector of the University of Higher Education of Brazil (IESB University).

The conference was attended by representatives of many countries, including the United States, Great Britain, China, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Brazil, Ireland, Poland, Qatar, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Turkey and others.