National Qualification Frameworks for Aerospace Engineering Education in Western Europe and in The Russian Federation: the Airqual Project 2009-11

As one of the Bologna Process countries, Russia committed herself to a number of reforms carried out within the Bologna Action Lines, amomg which are the introduction of 3 cycle system of higher education, National Qualifications Frameworks development, mobility issues, ECTS implementation and Quality Assurance. The AIRQUAL project (a TEMPUS project funded by the EU Commission) attempted to develop a common qualifications language for Aerospace Engineering academic courses as well as to ensure international comparability among the Russian Federation and three West European countries. These were France, Italy and Sweden, all represented by academic institutions belonging to the PEGASUS Network. In doing this AIRQUAL provided a benchmark for the application in a broader geographical context of a Quality Assurance method based on the comparison of functions / competences and learning outcomes.