1.
European Quality Assurance
Register for Higher Education
The European Framework for
Quality Assurance in Higher Education
Quality Seminar at South East European University
Tetovo/a, 3 June 2016
Colin Tück

2.
EHEA framework for
quality assurance
 European Standards and
Guidelines (ESG)
 Modernised and improved 2015
version
 Common ground for QA in
Europe
 European Quality Assurance
Register (EQAR)
 Agencies that comply
substantially with the ESG – at
home and abroad
 Processes for substantive
changes and complaints
 42 registered QAAs
 Governmental members
without registered agency

3.
Standards and Guidelines for
QA in the EHEA (ESG)
 Common standards for internal and external QA
 Developed jointly by the main stakeholders
 Agreed by ministers in 2005, revised in 2015
 Purposes:
 Set a common framework for quality assurance
systems at European, national and institutional level;
 Enable the assurance and improvement of quality;
 Support mutual trust, thus facilitating recognition and
mobility within and across national borders;
 Provide information on quality assurance in the EHEA.

4.
European Quality Assurance Register
for Higher Education (EQAR)
 Established by E4 at Ministers'
request, jointly governed by
stakeholders and governments
 Non-profit and independent, acting in
the public interest
 Mission: enhancing trust and
confidence in EHEA
 Main role: to manage a register of
QAAs that comply substantially with
the ESG
Stakeholder
organisations
Governments
Observers
Register Committee
Independent QA experts,
nominated by stakeholders
approves

5.
EQAR in practice
Registration based on external review of agency
Annual updates on reviews and countries
Substantive change reports
Third-party complaints
Periodic renewal every 5 years

6.
ESG – principles for QA
 Higher education institutions have primary
responsibility for quality
 Responds to the diversity of systems, institutions,
programmes and students
 Support the development of a quality culture;
 Take into account the needs and expectations of
students, all other stakeholders and society
 Transparency and publication of results
 Independence of external QA agencies

7.
ESG – internal QA
 Institutional policy for QA – see ESG 1.1
 Managing quality of study programmes
 Design and approval – see ESG 1.2
Objectives and learning outcomes in line with qualifications
framework (NQF & QF-EHEA)
 Student-centred teaching, learning, assessment – 1.3
 Admission, progression, recognition – 1.4
 Ongoing monitoring – 1.9
 Staff, resources, student support – 1.5 & 1.6
 Information management & public information – 1.7 & 1.8

8.
ESG – external QA
 Carried out by groups of external experts
 Required: academic(s), student(s) – see ESG 2.4
 Guidelines: international expert(s), employers/practitioners
 Four-stage model – see ESG 2.3:
 Self-evaluation or self-assessment
 External assessment, including site visit
 Public report and (if accreditation/audit) decision
 Follow-up procedure
 At institutional or programme level, or both
 Periodic review – see ESG 2.7

9.
ESG – role of stakeholders
“HE aims to fulfil multiple purposes [...] Therefore, stakeholders, who may
prioritise different purposes, can view quality in higher education differently
and quality assurance needs to take into account these different perspectives.”
 Internal QA
 Role in defining and implementing QA policy (1.1)
 Needs of students and society (1.9)
 External QA
 Agency governance (3.1)
 Peer-review involving different perspectives (2.4)
 Independence of QA agencies (3.3)
 From institutions, governments, organisations, …
 Consultation of stakeholder organisations, but decisions by
experts, from different backgrounds, acting in individual capacity

10.
Current EHEA Priorities
 Enhancing the quality and relevance of learning
and teaching
 Fostering the employability of graduates
 Making our systems more inclusive
 Implementing agreed structural reforms
(Yerevan Ministerial Communiqué 2015)

11.
New in QA after Yerevan
1. ESG 2015 adopted
2. Cross-border external quality assurance
“enable our higher education institutions to use a suitable
EQAR registered agency for their external quality assurance
process [...]”
3. European Approach for QA of Joint Programmes
4. Automatic recognition
“By 2020 we are determined to achieve an EHEA […] where
automatic recognition of qualifications has become a reality so
that students and graduates can move easily throughout it”

12.
1. ESG 2015 – what's
new?
 Scope clarified: ESG applicable also to non-
traditional HE, new modes of delivery, etc.
 Better integrated in overall EHEA framework
 Underline institutional responsibility for quality
 Stronger focus on whole student experience
 Take account of changed context
 Many standards clarified, more explicit
➔ Reflecting EHEA's progress over last 10 years

13.
2. Quality assurance
crossing borders
9
4
1
1
2
4
3
6
1
2
1
1
6 1 1 1
1
4
63
36 26
15 16 8
2 6 3 17 3 7 2
26
1
5 110 81 11
119 6 136 67
71 112 97 702 271 55 278 739 1097
Total Home Inst CBEQA Prog CBEQA

14.
2. Cross-border QA
Opportunities Challenges
Higher
Education
Institutions
●
International visibility
●
Valuable feedback
●
Increased commitment
●
Different approaches
●
Suit their own mission
●
Identify suitable agency
●
Workload and costs
●
Unknown expectations
●
Language
Quality
Assurance
Agencies
●
International profile
●
Experience relevant for
work at home
●
Diversification
●
Unfamiliar context
●
Adapting standards
●
Language

15.
2. But: national legal
frameworks lag behind
 Despite the robust
European framework in
place …
 Cross-border
accreditation/ evaluation
not fully recognised
 In addition/parallel to
obligatory national
external QA
 Duplication of efforts for
institutions  Recognising EQAR-registered agencies as part of the national
requirements for external QA
 Recognising foreign agencies with own/specific framework
 Discussions ongoing
 Countries not recognising external QA by foreign agency

16.
3. European Approach for
QA of Joint Programmes
Before After
Multiple, fragmented reviews Single review
Combining various national rules
and criteria
Agreed Standards, based on ESG &
QF-EHEA
Complex procedures, ad hoc
design
Agreed Procedure
 Adopted by ministers in Yerevan to lift obstacles to the
QA of joint programmes

17.
4. Automatic recognition
 Part of the ministers' vision for the EHEA 2020
 Important topic for quality assurance:
 Need for QA and qualifications framework to work
hand-in-hand to make AR work
 See also ESG standard 1.2
 Need to analyse recognition practices in QA
 See ESG standard 1.4
 Brings new expectations for Bologna tools

18.
A vision for QA, Trust and
Automatic Recognition
QA NQF
A
QF-
EHEA
NQF
B
ESG & EQAR self-certification
Qualification
in country A
Level in
country B
map & recognise

19.
Thank you for your attention!
Contact:
colin.tueck@eqar.eu
+32 2 234 39 11
@ColinTueck / @EQAR_he