Organisational Development and Finances

All 49 signatory countries of the Bologna Process can become governmental member of EQAR. No new members joined EQAR in 2022, which means that 41 countries* are involved in the overall governance of EQAR.

*In the past we have sometimes counted the number of of governmental members (in stead 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 will be the case for the UK. Henceforth, in order to avoid confusion, we will therefore speak of the number of countries that are governmental member.

Members’ Dialogues

Exceptionally, due to the extended external evaluation time-line, there were two Members’ Dialogues in 2022: one virtual MD in February, to discuss the evaluation results and one physical MD in Prague in December, about embracing current and future trends.

• Find out more about the virtual Members’ Dialogue in February
• Check out what was discussed (including presentations) at the Members’ Dialogue in Prague

The 2022 EQAR General Assembly was held in Strasbourg on 13 April in conjunction with the BFUG meeting. The GA was hosted by the Council of Europe, with support of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union as well as the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.

Apart from the yearly recurring agenda items such as the annual accounts, the budget, the work plan and the annual report, there were two other issues under consideration:

• The war on Ukraine and the status of Russia in the EHEA
  The GA took note of the statement published by EQAR in reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the recommendations addressed to EQAR-registered agencies and considered the consequences for EQAR of the BFUG suspension of the rights of representation of both Russia and Belarus in the EHEA.
• The follow-up on the External Evaluation of EQAR
  The GA gave feedback to the Register Committee’s proposed amendments to the Procedures for Applications (expediting the process and clarifying Substantive Change Reports) and adopted the amendments to the Appeals Procedure.

Read more about the 18th General Assembly in the relevant news item

The following elections took place:

• Selection Committee for the EQAR President
  The GA appointed Belgium (French Community), Croatia, Lithuania and Ukraine as governmental representatives on the selection committee for the EQAR President 2023-2026
• Executive Board
  The General Assembly elected an Executive Board for a term until the GA of 2024. John Edwards (EURASHE) was newly elected, Goran Daković (ENQA) and Jakub Grodecki* (ESU) were re-elected and Maria Kelo (EUA) was co-opted.
  * Jakub Grodecki then resigned at the end of August and was succeeded by Horia Onita (co-opted)

According to the agreed annual rotation, the Executive Board assumed the following functions (until the 2023 GA), with Karl Dittrich as President:

• Re-elected: Goran Dakovic (ENQA) – Vice-President
• Newly elected: John Edwards (EURASHE) – Treasurer

See under Annexes “EQAR data” the full composition of the various EQAR bodies in 2022.

Blazhe Todorovski joined the Secretariat as Policy and Project Officer in October. He supports the Register (analysis of applications and change reports, reviewing and updating information, guidance of agencies) and does project related work and desk research.

The total Secretariat staff at the end of 2022 was 5,4 FTE.

The year 2022 resulted in a deficit of EUR 23 222,33, which was anticipated as a result of significant inflation and resulting increasing staff costs (automatic indexation in Belgium), while an adjustment of membership fees only comes into force in the financial year 2023.

EQAR relies on a diverse funding base including annual contributions from its members (governments and European stakeholder organisations), application and listing fees paid by quality assurance agencies and occasional project grants, which currently are the Erasmus+ funding for the DEQAR CONNECT Project, QA FIT, IMINQA and the TPG LRC CoRE Projects.

• Financial accounts (detail)
• Auditor’s Report