Foreword

Another year has ended for EQAR in the EHEA; we have now accepted that we’re living under the “new normal”, that is to say in a world that has been upended by the epidemic, the advent of war in Europe and beyond and the advent of a new political concept, the illiberal democracy, that is to say a world that is increasingly tempted of acting against the democratic principles that are dear to our hearts and minds: the involvement of citizens in defining their future, the rule of law.

Yet, amidst these uncertainties, we are pleased to report that our colleagues in the EHEA, have worked ceaselessly to uphold these principles by giving a say to its members and its stakeholders.

In a way, we are lucky at EQAR to be not only a gatekeeper of quality assurance in higher education but also part of a close-knit community that espouses, promotes, and asserts the values of academic freedom and institutional autonomy that we identify as prerequisites to the harmonious development of every human being in Europe.

Despite the many changes within the EQAR management and the Secretariat staff in 2023, many things were accomplished.

We continued our core-business of reviewing quality assurance agencies via one online and three (in person) Register Committee meetings, resulting in the mature milestone of 57 quality assurance agencies listed on the Register at the end of 2023.

We also welcomed three new governmental members at last year’s General Assembly: Iceland, Scotland and Sweden.

Another important step was the continuing work on expanding our database DEQAR with information on other providers and micro credentials assessed through methodologies following the ESG.

The three projects that EQAR is involved in as project partner also kept the Secretariat very busy: IMINQA, QA FIT and TPG-LRC CoRE.

All of this and more is recorded and documented in the present annual report. A special thanks to Annelies, Blazhe, Giorgi, Sandra and Pooja for their continued efforts in putting this report together and in holding the “EQAR fort”.

I wish you a pleasant and informative reading.