November - 2024. This paper, based on the main conclusions drawn from the collected data and consultations with
Quality Assurance Fit for the Future (QA-FIT)
One of the main questions addressed during the QA-FIT project is whether the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) were ready for the future, and if not, how to make sure they were.
Various stakeholders had appealed to make further revisions to the ESG in order to reflect recent developments in higher education, allow more room for innovation in quality assurance in the future and facilitate a more flexible application of common standards as well as room for development of alternative approaches.
To this end, the QA-FIT project aimed to gather comprehensive evidence and reflect if and how the current EHEA framework of the ESG was perceived to limit the responsiveness of quality assurance to trends and innovations in higher education. The project ran from May 2022 until December 2024.
EQAR was responsible for preparing, analysing and disseminating (via webinar and other means) the surveys for, and handling the consultation with, ministries of higher education. EQAR also organised the final policy event intended to disseminate the key policy messages, also taking into consideration the outcomes of the Bologna Process Ministerial Conference.
- Conduct a comprehensive mapping exercise of the state of play of internal and external quality assurance in the EHEA.
- Take a critical look at the ESG and see how they have been adapted to different contexts.
- Explore how quality assurance activities are addressing recent and emerging developments in higher education including activities that go beyond the focus of the ESG and that use innovative approaches.
- Gather perspectives on the future of quality assurance in the EHEA.
- Surveys to the main quality assurance stakeholders, namely higher education institutions, students, quality assurance agencies, and ministries.
- Papers to present findings from the surveys.
- Webinars, organised in conjunction with the publication of the papers.
- Focus groups to discuss in detail some of the matters arising from the surveys.
- Final publication and policy recommendations.
- Final conference in Brussels.
- ENQA – European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, Belgium
- ESU – European Students’ Union, Belgium
- EUA – European University Association, Belgium
- EURASHE – European Association of Institutions in Higher Education, Belgium
- EQAR – European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education, Belgium
- ANOSR – National Alliance of Student Organisations in Romania, Romania
- FINEEC – Finnish Education Evaluation Centre, Finland
- IUA – Irish Universities Association, Ireland
- MOESGE (associate partner) – Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, Georgia
Project papers, presentations and webinars:

The future of the ESG: reflections based on findings from the QA-FIT project
May 2024. This paper draws on the data collected with the objective of identifying and analysing commonalities and

Quality assurance and internationalisation: state of play and perspectives for the future
May 2024. This paper explores the state of implementation of the various quality assurance tools that support

Analysis of Ministry Survey Responses
September 2023. This paper is part of a comprehensive exercise to collect evidence on the scope & implementation

Presentations & webinar on survey results
May 2023. The presentations below on the preliminary survey results were given at the EQAR General Assembly
Webinar "A Future-Proof Quality Assurance Framework for the EHEA”
In the following recording, Melinda Szabo, Deputy Director of EQAR, presents an overview of the key findings from the QA-FIT surveys, followed by questions and a discussion. This webinar was given before a live audience of stakeholders of national ministries in Stockholm at the EQAR General Assembly on 10 May 2023.
