News 2012

5 December 2012: Two Agencies Admitted to the Register

The Belgian Agence pour l'Evaluation de la Qualité de l'Enseignement Supérieur (AEQES) and the Lithuanian Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education (SKVC) were admitted to the Register at the most recent Register Committee held in Aveiro, Portugal on 1 December 2012.

The Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU) and the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) had their inclusion on the Register renewed until 2017.

The Register Committee further discussed the revision of the European Standard and Guidelines (ESG) and EQAR’s input on the revision of the ESG.

The Register Committee also finalised the first revision of its Procedures for Applications. These procedures describe the processes and criteria used in considering applications by quality assurance agencies for inclusion of the Register. The foremost amendment is the publication of the Register Committee’s decisions on all eligible applications for inclusion on the Register, one recommendation of the external evaluation panel that reviewed EQAR in 2011. The new procedures will be published and apply from early 2013.

5 June 2012: Policy on Mergers of Registered Agencies

public domain (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Merge_sign.svg)

A specific policy addressing mergers of registered quality assurance agencies has been agreed by the EQAR Register Committee. They may remain on the Register for up to two years, during which the new, merged agency will have to undergo an external review against the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG).

This provisional registration is subject to strict conditions and requirements, and will only be open to cases where all agencies involved have already been registered. Details are set out in the new EQAR Merger Policy.

9 May 2012: Swiss OAQ Admitted to the Register

The Swiss Center of Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education (OAQ) has been admitted to the Register at the Register Committee's meeting on 4 and 5 May 2012 in Munich. Now, 29 European quality assurance agencies feature on the Register.

Also two applications for renewal of inclusion on the Register, by AQAS and FIBAA (both based in Germany), were approved. The two agencies' registration has been renewed for a further 5 years, until early 2017.

26/27 April 2012: Ministers Reach Important QA Agreements

European Ministers of Higher Education from the 47 Bologna Process countries met on 26 and 27 April 2012 in Bucharest to agree on future priorities for the EHEA. The Bucharest Communiqué, agreed by Ministers at the conference, addresses important issues for quality assurance of higher education: Ministers agreed to "allow all EQAR-registered agencies to perform their activities across the EHEA, while complying with national requirements" and particularly to recognise their decisions on joint and double degree programmes.

Ministers agreed to revise the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) and asked for a proposal to be prepared the E4 Group (ENQA, ESU, EUA, EURASHE) in cooperation with BUSINESSEUROPE, Education International and EQAR.

Ministers reaffirmed that "quality assurance is essential for building trust" and set automatic recognition of qualifications, based on quality assurance and other Bologna tools (learning outcomes, qualifications frameworks), as a long-term goal for the EHEA.

EQAR was represented in the conference and submitted a statement to ministers.

Annual Report 2011

The EQAR Annual Report 2011 is now available for download [PDF, 622K]. It includes the EQAR Register Committee's regular report to the EQAR General Assembly, following up the two previous reports in 2009 and 2010 (see Publications). These reports, previously published separately, are now integrated in the Annual Report.

The Final Report of the External Evaluation as well as EQAR's Follow-Up to the evaluation panel's recommendations are published together with the Annual Report.

EQAR General Assembly held in Copenhagen - January and March 2012

EQAR's General Assembly was held in two parts this year, in conjunction with the two BFUG meetings in Copenhagen.

On 17 January 2012 EQAR members discussed EQAR's Strategic Priorities and Follow-Up of the External Evaluation. EQAR members agreed on promoting international trust and recognition of quality assurance agencies as well as increasing transparency as the two strategic priorities. Members also agreed on recommendations to European Ministers of Higher Education with a view to the Bucharest Ministerial Conference on 26/27 April.

During the second part, on 20 March 2012, the General Assembly elected a new Executive Board for a two-year mandate and approved the nominations to the Register Committee 2012-2014.

The Register Committee reported on its work since the last General Assembly. The Report of the Register Committee will be published as part of EQAR's Annual Report 2011 before the Bucharest Ministerial Conference.

Representatives of Turkey, who joined EQAR as Governmental Member right before the General Assembly, as well as Croatia, Latvia and Montenegro, who had become governmental members last year, were warmly welcomed at their first General Assembly.