EQAR NEWSLETTER - JULY 2023

Rijeka Register Committee outcomes

Register Committee (RC) members gathered in Croatia on 29-30 June for the 39th RC meeting, hosted by the University of Rijeka.

The Committee reviewed and considered several applications, substantive change reports and eligibility applications. The Committee found the following agencies operating in substantial compliance with the ESG:

ECTE - European Council for Theological Education e.V. (initial application)
HAKA - Estonian Quality Agency for Education (renewal)
HAKA reports in DEQAR
NOKUT - Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (renewal)
NOKUT reports in DEQAR

The Register Committee discussed and took note (either during, before or after the RC meeting) of the following reported substantive changes:

ACCUA (successor of AAC-DEVA) - Agency for Scientific and University Quality of Andalusia
Following a decree-law issued by the Andalusian government, ACCUA has become the legal successor of the Andalusian Agency of Knowledge, Directorate for Evaluation and Accreditation (AAC-DEVA). ACCUA started operating on 1 March 2023.
A3ES - Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (Portugal)
A3ES implemented the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes in May 2023.
evalag - Evaluation Agency Baden-Württemberg (Germany)
Evalag introduced five new activities, four of which are applicable only to Baden-Württemberg and the fifth is the accreditation of study programmes pursuant to HEdA and Swiss Health Professions Act (GesBG/LPSan). Evalag also made two organisational changes (a new body within the agency and a change within the Foundation Board).
HCERES - High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (France)
HCERES implemented the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes and has already completed two procedures.
Madri+d - Fundación para el Conocimiento Madrimasd
The agency introduced two new activities. The CUALIFAM programme is aimed at programmes offered by business schools, performed in collaboration with the Spanish Association of Business Schools. The SOFIA programme is an activity based on the agency's already existing criteria, but focused on reviewing universities beyond the European Higher Education Area.
QAA - Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education(UK)
As a result of the termination of its contract with the Office for Students, QAA’s activities, carried out in England, “Quality and Standards Review (QSR)” and Degree Awarding Powers (DAP) scrutiny have ended as of 1 April 2023.

This was the last meeting for RC members Jacques Lanares (RC member since 2019), Anita Līce (RC member since 2014 and Vice-Chair of the RC from 2017-2019) and Izabela Kwiatkowska Sujka (RC member since 2017). They were thanked for their hard work, enthusiasm and excellent collaboration.

This was also the last meeting for President Karl Dittrich before handing over the baton to Stéphane Lauwick, who started his mandate as EQAR President on 1 July. Karl was thanked for his charismatic leadership, his ability to build bridges and his overall contribution to the success of EQAR. More about Karl and his six years as EQAR President.

Project updates

1) Implementation and Innovation in QA through Peer Learning (IMINQA)

This umbrella project supports the work of the Bologna Thematic Peer Group C on Quality Assurance, focusing on the implementation of the key commitment on quality assurance in all EHEA countries. EQAR's contribution to the project during the last two months focused on the following:

IMINQA PLA activities
Preparations are ongoing for the third Peer Learning Activity on the “European Approach for the QA of Joint Programmes”, that will be held in Brussels on 13 September 2023, hosted by the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training.
More about the analysis and results of the first PLA on "External QA" and the second PLA on "Cross-Border QA and QA of transnational education" here.
QA of Micro-credentials
The next meeting of the Working Group on QA of Micro-credentials will take place on Thursday 14 September 2023. The discussion will focus on micro-credentials offered by alternative providers and potential messages to the Drafting Committee for the Ministerial Communiqué. More information on the meetings and reports of the working group here.
IMINQA Staff Mobility
At the meeting in Astana on 30 May 2023, the Matchmaking Committee reviewed 29 applications for staff mobility and approved 31 mobilities expected to take place between June 2023 and February 2024.

2) Quality Assurance Fit for the Future (QA FIT)

The QA-FIT project addresses whether the ESG are "fit" for the future, and if not, how to make sure they are.

To this end, as part of a mapping exercise to collect evidence on the scope and implementation of quality assurance policies and practices, surveys for all stakeholder groups were sent out last year and have been collected and analysed. EQAR was responsible for the surveys for the ministries of higher education.

EQAR organised a Thematic Session at the EQAR General Assembly in Stockholm “A Future-Proof Quality Assurance Framework for the EHEA" to further discuss the outcomes of these surveys. The session, recorded and available on our website here, presented an overview of the key findings from the QA-FIT surveys, followed by questions and a discussion.

3) The TPG-LRC Constructing Recognition in the EHEA (TPG-LRC CoRE)

The TPG (Thematic Peer Group) - LRC (Lisbon Recognition Convention) Constructing Recognition in the EHEA is an umbrella project that aims to support the implementation of the Bologna Process, focusing on key commitment 2: national legislation and procedures compliant with the Lisbon Recognition Convention.

In May 2023, EQAR co-organised the second part of the workshop on the Digitalisation of the Diploma Supplement. Representatives from ENIC-NARICs from Ukraine, Sweden, Italy and Netherlands participated and learned about the European Learning Model and tested the Europass platform for issuing digital statements.
EQAR is leading the work group on Digitalisation of Recognition Tools. The work group is set to organise three peer learning webinars, each focusing on one of the phases of the recognition process (input, throughput and output). Each of the webinars is designed to provide practical insights and solutions for dealing with data challenges, building learner-centered databases for easing the flow of information and transferring digital statements between national and international databases in the field of recognition. Stay tuned and note down the following webinars dates: 19 September, 19 October and 21 November.

General Assembly in Stockholm hosted by new EQAR member Sweden

EQAR members convened for their 19th General Assembly (GA) in Stockholm on 10 May 2023, almost 14 years after EQAR’s third GA had been held in Stockholm in 2009.

After welcome words by Therese Ahlqvist, Deputy Director General of the Swedish Ministry of Education and Research, there was a thematic session “A Future-Proof Quality Assurance Framework for the EHEA” (more about that session under Project Updates "QA FIT").

The President, Karl Dittrich expressed his gratitude to the Swedish Ministry of Education and Research, in the framework of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU, for hosting the General Assembly.

Apart from the yearly recurring agenda items such as the accounts, the budget, the plan of work and the annual report, there was also a statutory revision, a revision of the membership fees, various elections and the official handover from the outgoing Director, Colin Tück, to the new Director Magalie Soenen.

Stéphane Lauwick was elected as President of EQAR for a three-year mandate. He will be EQAR’s second elected president after Karl Dittrich, with a mandate starting on 1 July 2023.

Find out more about the GA (including the other elections)

Annual Report published

We are pleased to announce that our Annual Report 2022 has been published on our website.

A defining moment of 2022 was the Russian invasion of Ukraine and EQAR consequently supporting a statement signed by a large number of EHEA members and consultative members, condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine as fundamental violation of the values, principles and goals of the EHEA, and of the obligations and commitments undertaken since joining the EHEA. After the suspension of Russia’s right of representation in the EHEA, the EQAR Register Committee considered that operations in Russia would temporarily not qualify to fulfil the eligibility criterion for EQAR registration that an agency operates in the EHEA. Read more

It was a busy year for EQAR, marked also by the return of in-person meetings, starting with the Register Committee in Porto in March (one of the three RC meetings of 2022) and the General Assembly in Strasbourg in April. No sooner had we finalised the end-report of the DEQAR CONNECT project, than three new projects kicked off: IMINQA, QA-Fit and TPG-LRC CoRE (see under “project updates”).

You can read about it in our Annual Report, which includes a comprehensive overview of the work of the Register Committee (including decisions on applications, change reports and leval of ESG compliance), DEQAR (project) milestones and activities, EQAR's contribution to the development of the EHEA, internal events, publications, finances, organisational updates etc.

Check out the Annual report on our website

EQAR Members' Dialogue

This year’s EQAR Members’ Dialogue will be held in Granada on 9-10 November 2023 and will focus on two main topics:

The EQAR strategy 2024-2028
Members will discuss the topics and priorities for the next EQAR Strategy.
The QA FIT Focus Group (for ministries)
The Focus Group is organised to discuss in detail some of the matters arising from the QA FIT surveys, including implications for innovation in quality assurance, both within and outside the scope of the ESG. Cross-cutting issues and perspectives of the other stakeholder groups (students, universities, professional HEIs, QA agencies) will also be tackled.

The Members’ Dialogue is only open to members of EQAR, not to registered agencies.

EQAF registrations open

Registrations are now open for the 2023 European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF).

This year’s Forum will focus on the theme of ‘Internationalisation in a changing world. New trends and challenges for QA’. It will explore QA policies and practices that support new forms of internationalisation, and discuss how quality assurance can meet emerging needs and arising challenges in the sector.

The Forum will be hosted by University of Aveiro, Portugal, from 23 to 25 November 2023. During the event, paper sessions, workshops and practice presentations will allow for interactive audience participation and opportunities for exchange of experiences and good practices. In addition to the sessions on the Forum theme, the event will also provide opportunities to network.

By registering, you will join the largest annual gathering of the European community for quality assurance of higher education.

For more information, please check the EQAF event page.

Holidays

Please note that the EQAR office will be closed from 7 to 11 August 2023.