Managing the Register

Comparing to the previous year, countries advancement of new legal regulation to support external QA arrangements in with with the ESG had slight improvement. In 2023, higher education institutions in 33 of the 49 EHEA member countries (or 35 of 53 higher education systems, if counting Belgian and UK systems) were subject to regular external quality assurance in line with the ESG, carried out by EQAR-registered agencies.

In 2023 with the inclusion of three national quality assurance agency, HAHE, THEQC and SAAHE, the coverage of EHEA system has increased, since these agencies are largely responsible for external quality assurance in the respective countries, Greece, Turkiye and Slovakia.

In 2024, the Register Committee is expected to consider three initial applications for registration from three other EHEA systems, that are likely to expand the EHEA coverage on systems ‘aligned with the ESG’.

Map Legend

Green: A fully functioning quality assurance system is in operation nationwide, in which all higher education institutions are subject to regular external quality assurance by an agency that has successfully demonstrated compliance with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA (ESG) through registration on EQAR

Yellow: A fully functioning quality assurance system is in operation nationwide but only some higher education institutions are subject to regular external quality assurance by an agency that has successfully demonstrated compliance with the ESG through registration on EQAR

Orange: A quality assurance system is in operation nationwide, but has not (yet) been fully aligned to the ESG

Red: No quality assurance system is in operation

At the end of the 2023, 57 quality assurance agencies were listed on the Register (*). Seven agencies were newly admitted to the Register in 2023.

During the year, the Committee took decisions on 20 applications, of which 18 were approved. Out of the 20 decisions, 11 related to renewals of registration, while seven agencies were newly admitted to the register. A list of all decisions taken in 2023 and previous years can be accessed here.

(*) When an agency with an initial application is accepted to the Register, the “listed since” date on the Register is the date of publication of the external review report (rounded off to the first day of the month concerned), which can be in a different (previous)  year than when RC decision was taken. That is why five agencies that were newly admitted to the Register in 2023, have as registration date a day in 2022. The two other agencies that were newly admitted to the Register in 2023, have as registration date a day in 2023.

In 2023, the Register Committee took six decisions on applications based on targeted reviews, a newly introduced procedure by EQAR (in close collaboration with ENQA) since 2022, which allows agencies whose registration has been renewed at least twice, to undergo a more focused external review. More about targeted reviews can be found here.

Applications for registration received in 2023

In 2023, EQAR received 19 applications for registration. All of the applications were found to be eligible and agencies were encouraged to proceed with the next steps of the external review process (i.e. organising the site visit):

• Four of the applications submitted to EQAR in 2023 were for initial inclusion on the register.
• One of these applications was submitted by an agency that is undergoing a focused review (i.e. a follow up review after being deferred from inclusion on the register in 2022).
• The rest of the applications (14 in total), were submitted by agencies whose registration was expiring in 2023. Eleven of these agencies decided to undergo a targeted rather than a full review. One of these applications was completed (and accepted) at the end of 2023. Decisions on the remaining ten applications for renewal of registration are to be taken throughout 2024.

Applicants’ level of ESG compliance

On our webpage “Analysis of Decisions” we have various interactive charts/maps on applications and ESG compliance, as well as some other statistics on the application process and Register Committee decision-making, among which a fully interactive chart illustrating the ESG compliance level achieved by applicant agencies (successful and unsuccessful), broken down by various dimensions.

In 2023 the Register Committee considered 21 change reports, one of which was addressed as part of the agency’s decision for renewal of registration. The number of reports is relatively high, compared to  13 change reports in 2022 and 16 in 2021.

For most of the reports the Committee decided to “take note” of the new developments within the agencies. Following the consideration of three change reports, the Committee requested follow-up report for further information on changes.

The absolute majority of the reports included changes in the agency’s external quality assurance activities, from initiating new activities (47.61%), to introducing changes in existing activities (38.09%) to discontinuing existing activities (19.04%) or changes in external QA outside the scope of the ESG (9.52%). These changes illustrate that many agencies have adapted or expanded their range of external quality assurance activities. A few of the agencies also reported changes in their organisational structure and identity (23.8%) (see chart). 

In some cases the agencies went through a reorganization (ACCUA became a legal successor of ACCUA) or made changes in the governance of the agency (HAKA, PKA, evalag and NCEQE). Some of the agencies had changes in activities outside the scope of ESG (QQI, AQ Austria). In other cases, these changes came as a result of agencies, widening their offer of external QA activities, to diversify the portfolio and to further develop their QA system (QAA, evalag, ANECA, ECTE, A3ES, HCERES, AKAST, NCEQE, madri+d, AQ Austria and unibasq).

Targeted Reviews are an approach co-created together with ENQA in 2021, aimed to reduce “review fatigue” for those agencies that have already successfully passed two reviews against the ESG. During the targeted review process, the review focuses on ESG standards that were partially compliant during the last review and/or ESG standards possibly affected by recent changes. Each targeted review also addresses standard 2.1 and at least one other standard, chosen by the agency as an enhancement area (Read more about targeted reviews).

In 2023, six QA agencies completed their targeted reviews, which were then considered and approved by the EQAR Register Committee (see resulting reports for ANECA, NVAO, NOKUT, SQAA, HAKA and ARACIS). For the completed procedures, the Register Committee followed the panels conclusions for ten ESG standards and could not follow the conclusion of the panel for five ESG standards. Furthermore, the Register Committee confirmed the terms of reference for nine QA agencies who applied for this procedure.

Given the small number of cases, a further analysis will need to follow. The analysis will reflect on the added value of such reviews, on whether they provide enough information to retain confidence in the agency; if the remaining standards (not in focus area) remain fulfilled; if any important aspects are missing; should any changes be made in the targeted review methodology; if there is a workload difference between targeted and full reviews etc. Two to three years after implementation (mid 2024) EQAR, jointly with ENQA, will assess the experience with targeted reviews.

EQAR has continued its close collaboration with ENQA as the coordinator of the majority of reviews for EQAR registration. In 2023, EQAR and ENQA staff have continued the practice of holding monthly (online) coordination meetings on current reviews and applications. These regularly meetings have helped to facilitate a smooth and prompt exchange of information.

In 2023, EQAR contributed to an ENQA training for agency reviewers, as well as a seminar for experienced reviewers. Both of the events enabled fruitful discussions with reviewers and agency representatives.

One review report by another coordinator than ENQA (eligibility was approved under the Policy on the Eligibility of Review Coordinators and Panels) submitted in 2023 was deferred to 2024 and led to a withdrawal of the application eventually (beginning of 2024).