APQN Academic Conference (AAC) and Annual General Meeting (AGM), 2026

29 October to 1 November 2026

CALL FOR PAPERS

DEADLINE: August 20, 2026

Reimagining Quality Assurance in a Rapidly Changing Higher Education Landscape

I        Background

APQN Academic Conference (AAC) and Annual General Meeting (AGM) are annual highlight events to discuss and advance quality assurance in higher education in the Asia Pacific Region. The APQN Board is delighted to announce that the next AAC and AGM will be hosted by Symbiosis International (Deemed University) (SIU) from October 29 - November 1 (Thursday - Sunday), 2026 in Pune, India.

The target audience for the AAC and AGM are primarily those associated with quality assurance in the Asia-Pacific Region. It includes all types of APQN members and observers, the Board, the Committees and the various project groups. In addition, other higher education institutions (HEIs), quality assurance agencies (QAAs), and organizations working in the field of quality assurance in any part of the world are welcomed to attend AAC events which are only open to all registered delegates with the exception of the AGM which are for APQN members only.

II        Conference Themes

Theme of 2026 AAC:

Reimagining Quality Assurance in a Rapidly Changing Higher Education Landscape

Sub-themes:

(1)Cross-Border Quality Assurance: Diverse Approaches to Excellence, Mutual Trust and Recognition;

(2)Responding to Change: Internal QA in the Era of Digital and Hybrid Education;

(3)Regional and Global Perspectives on Accreditation and Collaboration between QA Networks;

(4)The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Quality Assurance Processes.

III        Timeline - key dates and events

IV        Guidelines for paper submissions

Submissions should not exceed 3000 words (min. 2000 words) in length, including the appendices, tables, illustrations and photographs, and an abstract (around 100-200 words) and a bio-sketch with a photo of the author (up to 100 words). The paper must be in English and submitted as a Microsoft Word Document. More details can be found in the “Guidelines for the Authors and a Format Model for the Papers” in the appendix.

All submitted papers will be reviewed by a Review Committee. The final decision regarding the acceptance of papers for presentation at the AAC rests with the Review Committee. Selected papers will be presented at the 2026 AAC and published in the “Anthology of 2026 AAC” by APQN after the Conference. Publishing permission will be requested from the author. 

Submissions (in Microsoft Word format) should be made through the online submission system. Authors who are unable to access the system may submit their papers by email to the APQN Secretariat (apqnsecretariat@163.com). For email submissions, authors are kindly requested to complete the attached “PAPER SUBMISSION FORM” and submit it together with their paper as email attachments. The paper files should be named in the following format: “your name + your country + Sub-theme number”. To avoid duplicate submissions, authors are requested to submit their papers through only one channel, either the online submission system or email. We look forward to receiving your submissions by 20 August 2026.

If your paper is accepted for presentation at the 2026 APQN Conference, the distribution of supplementary material to the audience will be at your own discretion and responsibility.

All Papers MUST strictly follow the following format and Layout of template below
including margins, fonts, naming conventions and HARVARD referencing system

Paper 3000 words maximum 

All papers not using the template below may be rejected

Please select “Narrow” for your paper layout margin.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title of paper (Font: Times New Roman, Bold, size: 12, Centralized)

Authors First Name, Last name only (Font: Times New Roman, non-bold, size: 10, centralized)

Abstract:

Abstract is compulsory (Font: Times New Roman, non-bold, size: 11, Justify)

Contents (Number each heading and sub-heading using numbers 1., 1.1., 1.1.1.,  2., 2.1., 2.1.1., etc.)

(Font: Times New Roman, non-bold, size: 11, Justify, Single spacing between lines)

Example:

1. Heading

The paper ……according to Xdsgsh (2016), it indicated that ,….

1.1. Sub head

As the result….

1.1.1.  Sub-sub heading

In conclusion….

2. Heading

2.1. Sub heading

2.1.1. Sub sub headings

3. etc.

        Diagrams, Figures, illustrations, tables

Centralized all Diagrams, Figures, illustrations, tables to paper centre. Naming (Font: Times New Roman, non-bold, size: 8, centralized):  Example:

Table 1: Xhsjoisps

Figure 1: Xhsjoisp

Authors Bio:

(author’s Bio 1   100 words maximum, Font: Times New Roman, non-bold,  Size 8, Justify

Author name, title, organization

Contact:

(author’s Bio 2,  100 words maximum, Font: Times New Roman, non-bold,  Size 8, Justify

Author name, title, organization

Contact:

Referencing:

HARVARD referencing (Font: Times New Roman, non-bold, size: 8)

(Do not use end page referencing)