18 November 2010: EQAR now includes 24 Quality Assurance Agencies
As of today, 24 quality assurance agencies, active in 23 European countries, feature on the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR). Five new agencies have been added after their applications were approved by the Register Committee on 13 November:
- ACSUCYL (Spain)
- ACSUG (Spain)
- CTI (France)
- FINHEEC (Finland)
- The Accreditation Institution (Denmark)
To be included, quality assurance agencies have to evidence in an independent external review that they comply substantially with the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG).
Read the full Press Release.
Summary Report by the First Register Committee
3 November 2010: The first EQAR Register Committee has compiled a Summary Report giving a comprehensive account of its criteria and procedures, and the decision-making during its two-year mandate.
The report follows up the report on the first two application rounds published in October 2009.
As a useful reference for all those involved in the external review of quality assurance agencies the report introduces Recommendations for External Reviews, which aim to further promote comprehensive and robust external review reports.
2 September 2010: Applications from 5 quality assurance agencies received
In the fifth round of applications, five quality assurance agencies working in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) have submitted an application for inclusion on the Register. The Register Committee, EQAR's independent body deciding on inclusion on the Register, will consider these applications at its next meeting on 13 November 2010.
The next deadline for applications will be 31 March 2011.
Information for Applicants
Register of quality assurance agencies
25 May 2010: Two new quality assurance agencies admitted to EQAR
- Register Committee meeting in Dublin
The first application round of 2010 resulted in the acceptance of two quality assurance agencies on the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education. The decision was taken by the Register Committee at its meeting in Dublin on 15 May.
The Register Committee concluded that AQAS and evalag successfully evidenced their substantial compliance with the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) through an independent external review. With these two admissions EQAR now lists nineteen agencies that are active in the European Higher Education Area.
Read more in Press Release.
The next meeting of the Register Committee will take place in early November 2010. Quality assurance agencies wishing to apply for inclusion in the Register must submit their applications by 31 August 2010.
11 March 2010: EQAR publishes Annual Report 2009
As European ministers of higher education meet in Budapest and Vienna (on 11 and 12 March 2010) to mark the anniversary of the Bologna Process, the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) publishes its Annual Report 2009. The report summarises EQAR's activities in its second year of existence.
Fourteen European quality assurance agencies were admitted to the Register in 2009 after having evidenced their substantial compliance with the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG), leading to seventeen agencies registered on EQAR in total. In October 2009, EQAR published a first comprehensive report of its Register Committee, which is included in the Annual Report 2009 and gives a detailed account of the decision-making on applications for inclusion on the Register and key observations from the Committee's deliberations.
EQAR was founded in 2008 by the E4 Group, comprising of the European representative bodies of higher education institutions, students and quality assurance agencies, on the basis of a mandate received from European ministers of higher education at the Bologna follow-up conference in London in 2007.
Printed copies are available at the conference in Budapest and Vienna and will be posted to EQAR members and partners.
EQAR General Assembly held in Madrid on 19 February 2010
- General Assembly held in Madrid.
EQAR members convened in Madrid on 19 February 2010 for the fourth General Assembly of the association. A new Executive Board was elected at the General Assembly for a 2-year mandate commencing as of 1 March 2010. The following candidates have been nominated and elected:
Andrea Blättler (nominated by ESU)
Emmi Helle (re-nominated by ENQA)
Andreas Orphanides (re-nominated by EURASHE)
Lesly Wilson (re-nominated by EUA)
Apart from the election of the Executive Board, a new Chair of the Register Committee as well as two new Register Committee members were approved by the General Assembly. Their two-year mandate will start on 1 July 2010. The new Chair, Kjell Frønsdal - Judge of the Gulating Court of Appeal in Bergen, Norway - was by-elected by the Register Committee on 6 January 2010 after the current Chair, Mr. Justice Bryan McMahon had indicated he was not available for a second mandate. The two new Register Committee members are Gertie de Fraeye and Mindaugas Misiunas.
Another important milestone was the approval of the Initial Plans for the External Evaluation of EQAR. Initial discussions on this subject had already started in September 2009 at the third General Assembly.
