EQAR is the only official organisation to be established directly as a result of the Bologna Process
and forms a key part of the European Higher Education Area infrastructure.
Bergen 2005
The concept of a European register of quality assurance agencies was initially welcomed by the ministers of the Bologna signatory countries in 2005 at their Bergen summit.
After the Bergen summit, a first proposal for a register was presented to the ministers in the report Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area prepared by the E4* organisations. Back then ministers adopted the Standards and Guidelines as a common European reference point for internal and external quality assurance of higher education.
London 2007
At their summit in London in May 2007 ministers “welcome[d] the establishment of a register by the E4 group, working in partnership, based on their proposed operational model” in their Communiqué. The E4 Group presented the operational model to ministers in the Report to the London Conference of Ministers on a European Register of Quality Assurance Agencies.
Brussels 2008
Following the ministers’ mandate, the aforementioned model was implemented in practice and the EQAR Association was founded on 4 March 2008 as an independent organisation in charge of establishing and managing a register of quality assurance agencies. The objectives of EQAR were:
- Promote student mobility by providing a basis for the increase of trust among higher education institutions.
- Reduce opportunities for “accreditation mills” to gain credibility.
- Provide a basis for governments to authorise higher education institutions to choose any agency from the Register, if that is compatible with national arrangements.
- Provide a means for higher education institutions to choose between different agencies, if that is compatible with national arrangements.
- Serve as an instrument to improve the quality of agencies and to promote mutual trust among them.
*The E4 Group are the main stakeholder organisations in the field of higher education and the founding members of EQAR:
- European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA)
- European Students Union (ESU)
- European University Association (EUA)
- European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE)
Apart from founding members, EQAR also has social partner members (BUSINESSEUROPE and Education International) and governmental members. More about EQAR membership as well as the list of governmental members here.