Database of External QA Results (DEQAR)

DEQAR is the Database of External Quality Assurance Results from activities performed by EQAR-registered quality assurance agencies. DEQAR not only collects their reports and decisions but also helps to understand reports in their context by describing the national QA frameworks of the European Higher Education Area countries.

• Check out the DEQAR Essential Info page outlining the whys, hows and for whoms of the database.

Throughout 2023, EQAR worked on three main developments in DEQAR; extending the database with information on other providers and micro credentials, linking DEQAR data with the European initiatives on digital credentials and establishing an automatic connection to the ETER/OrgReg system.

Other providers and micro credentials in DEQAR

Inspired by the recent developments in the higher education field regarding flexible learning opportunities offered by a broader spectrum of providers, and supported through the IMINQA project, EQAR continued working on the expanding DEQAR with information on other providers and micro credentials assessed through methodologies following the ESG.

Following the first consultations with EQAR’s members and members of the working group of the IMINQA project in late 2022, in 2023 EQAR worked on further improving the new DEQAR data model and launching a test environment with the new information on other providers and micro credentials.

Throughout the summer of 2023, 4 EQAR registered agencies (ACQUIN, ZeVA, IAAR and ECTE) tested the system, uploading approx. 20 reports in DEQAR. This activity was followed by series of consultations with stakeholders (QA agencies, ENIC NARICs, higher education institutions, individual experts etc.) and completing the model in early 2024.

The updated DEQAR data model now includes additional information such as the type of programme (full degree or no full degree), ECTS credits, assessment and certification outcomes, learning outcomes (following ESCO classification), identifiers for other providers etc. Further information on the updated model and new fields is available in the following framework and the new DEQAR’s Handbook.

EQAR expects the first reports on other providers and micro credentials in 2024.

Integration with Digital Credentials

During 2023, EQAR continued to work closely with the European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment (DG EMPL) and its implementation partners (NTT Data) to enhance the integration of DEQAR data in the European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDC) ecosystem.

The DEQAR data export has been updated in line with the latest versions of the European Learning Model (ELM). Furthermore, while only institutional accreditations where exported to the Accreditation Database underlying EDC in the pilot phase, thanks to changes in the latest ELM versions, programme-based external quality assurance reports from DEQAR can now also be accurately represented and have been included in the data export since late 2023.

While the DEQAR integration had to be enabled separately on a country-by-country basis previously, the EQAR and EDC teams have cooperated to enable the integration by default for all EU countries. The full integration, covering all reports (incl. programme level) and all countries by default, has been implemented and tested. The new feature will make over 80 000 DEQAR accreditation records automatically available for use in EDC and will be launched officially in early 2024.

External quality assurance results from DEQAR also remain available as Verifiable Accreditations for use in the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) ecosystem.

Automatic connection with ETER/OrgReg

Since March 2023, institutional data in DEQAR are automatically synchronised from the Register of Public Sector Organisations (OrgReg), a sister project of the European Tertiary Education Register (ETER) which maintains basic data on higher education institutions.

As a result, HEI data within the OrgReg-covered countries (EU + EFTA + candidates + UK) will in the future exclusively be updated through OrgReg and not directly in DEQAR; EQAR staff now have access to provide changes to OrgReg data directly.

Integration of DEQAR data in recognition workflows

EQAR supported the ENIC NARIC Poland, NAWA Poland, in connecting its database with DEQAR. DEQAR data will be used to verify the accreditation status of institutions and contribute towards swifter recognition process of qualifications by students interested in studying in Poland.

Reports

By the end of 2023 the total number of reports in DEQAR was 95 071.The total number of reports uploaded during 2023 was 13 468.

Agencies

Throughout the year, 48 (out of 57) EQAR registered agencies uploaded their reports in the database. This is 11 agencies more than in 2022. One reason for the significant increase is that six new agencies were registered on EQAR and established connection to DEQAR.

Higher education institutions (HEIs)

Newly added reports in DEQAR in 2023 covered 1 953 HEIs based in 42 EHEA countries, and 81 HEIs based in 29 non EHEA countries.

Coverage

DEQAR had significant coverage of 31 higher education systems by the end of 2023: Austria, Belgium (Flemish Community), Belgium (French Community), Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom (Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales)

Note on “significant coverage”: In these systems, DEQAR includes reports on more than half of the higher education institutions, compared to the total number according to the European Tertiary Education Register (ETER) or national lists provided to EQAR. For very small higher education systems (< 5 higher education institutions), significant coverage is considered if the higher education institution(s) is/are the dominant institution(s) in the system and a large proportion of the institution(s) is covered, i.e. not only a small number of programmes.

The increase of number from 2023 compared to previous years is due to the new approach adopted by ETER/OrgReg – the list of institutions for Belgium and UK is now representing the regional division of the higher educational systems in both countries.

Upload methods

In 2023, the main mode of upload of report was the API (6 040), followed by manual upload (4177) and CSV (3 251).

The following tables provide a detailed breakdown by agency and type of reports.