Organisational Development and Finances

All parties to the European Cultural Convention, signed in Paris on 19 December 1954, that are full members of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), may become Governmental Members.

In July 2025, one new member joined EQAR; United Kingdom (Wales). By the end of year, EQAR had 46 governmental members or 43 countries* that were involved in the overall governance of EQAR.

* There are two ways to count EQAR members; the number of of governmental members or the number of countries. This can lead to a higher number if the country is divided into two (or more) separate entities, as is the case for Belgium and for the UK.

The EQAR General Assembly was held in Warsaw at the Kazimierz Górski PGE Narodowy Stadium on 25 February 2025, in conjunction with the Bologna Follow-Up Group (BFUG) meeting, hosted by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, in the framework of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU.

• Yearly recurring agenda items
  The General Assembly adopted the agenda and the minutes and approved the accounts 2024, the budget 2025 and the Workplan 2025-2026. The GA also discharged the Board and took note of the Annual Report and the Progress Report on the Work Plan 2024/25. Because of the early date of the GA, the budget 2026 was postponed to the autumn. At the Extraordinary General Assembly in Brussels on 15 October, the GA approved budget 2026.
• Thematic Session
  The Thematic Session consisted of a presentation about EQAR’s contribution to the ESG revision process, by EQAR Director Aleksandar Šušnjar.
• Register Committee nomindations
  The GA approved the nominations of the Register Committee, which included five re-nominations and five new ones.
  Rihards Blese was nominated by BUSINESS EUROPE replacing Inga Lapina who served on the Register Committee since 2023.
  Esther Huertas Hidalgo was nominated by ENQA replacing Steffen Westergard Andersen who served on the Register Committee since 2017.
  Geneviève Le Fort was nominated by EUA replacing Riitta Pyykkö who served on the Register Committee since 2017.
  Petri Mantysaari was nominated by EI/ETUCE replacing Maria Arminda Bragança de Miranda who served on the Register Committee since 2017.
  Liv Theresa Muth was nominated by ESU replacing Beate Treml who served on the Register Committee since 2017.
• Appointment of observers to the Register Committee
  The GA newly elected the Czech Republic and Italy and re-elected Kazakhstan, Slovakia and Slovenia as observers to the Register Committee for the term 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2027.
• Appointment members of the President Selection Committee
  The GA appointed the following governmental members to the Selection Committee: Iceland, Austria, Latvia and Romania. The following stakeholder members were also appointed to the Selection Committee: ENQA, ESU, EUA, EURASHE and Education International/ETUCE.
• Appointment members of the Self-Evaluation Group
  The following governmental members were appointed to form part of the Self-Evaluation Group: Belgium (Flemish Community) and Slovenia.
• Appointment observers to the EQAR Board
  The following governmental members were re-appointed as observers to the Board: France and Norway.

> Read more about the General Assembly in Warsaw in the relevant news item
> Read more about the Extraordinary General Assembly in Brussels
> See under Annexes “EQAR data” the full composition of the various EQAR bodies in 2025.

There were no staff changes in 2025 and  The total Secretariat staff at the end of 2025 remained at 5,4 FTE.

The Members’ Dialogue usually covers recent policy developments in quality assurance as well as EQAR’s current and future activities. Thanks to the informal setting, it also serves as a forum for exchange and networking among governments on issues related to quality assurance. EQAR’s 15th Members’ Dialogue took place In Brussels on 15-16 October 2025.

• Topics of the first afternoon centered mainly around the European Degree package and what this entailed for EQAR. Attention was also paid to EQAR’s contribution to the European Degree package in relation to DEQAR and the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes (EA). The latter session kicked off with a presentation from the European Commission followed by three practical examples (of Sweden, Austria and Una Europa).
• A very relevant session, related to EQAR’s core work, delved deeper into ESG compliance challenged by national regulations. The recently started ESG revision process was also touched upon, as were the latest developments within DEQAR, with presentations by the Polish ENIC-NARIC (NAWA) about their DEQAR intergration as well as the European Commission (DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) about European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDCL) and DEQAR.
• Two other topics were “Quality of recognition – Insights from the analysis of reports by EQAR registered agencies” and “Certifying Micro Credentials offered by Alternative Providers”. The last session of the second afternoon featured a panel discussing EQAR’s contributions to the new working cycle of the BFUG.

Read more about the Members’ Dialogue in the relevant news-item on our website.

The year 2024 resulted in a surplus of EUR 61 562,16. A surplus of EUR 31 483,00 was anticipated in the revised budget 2024 (approved in April 2024), following the staff changes in EQAR (see “Staff“) and the proposed austerity measures, due to a considerable deficit in 2023.

The substantial surplus in 2024 was mainly a result of reduced staff and travel costs. The total Secretariat staff at the end of 2024 remained at 5,4 FTE, but for a period of six months, the total Secretariat staff was 4.7 FTE (and there was no Director on staff).

Travel and hosting in person events were drastically reduced, through more online meetings (one online Register Committee meeting and an online Members’ Dialogue) and a limitation of external events attended.

EQAR relies on a diverse funding base including annual fees by members (Governments and European stakeholder organisations), application and listing fees paid by Quality assurance agencies and occasional project grants, which for 2024 included the Erasmus+ funding for the QA FIT, IMINQA and the TPG LRC CoRE Projects.

• Financial accounts (detail)
• Auditor’s Report