Managing the Register

Comparing to the previous year, countries’ advancement of new legal regulation to support external QA arrangements in line with the ESG, remained the same. In 2024, 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 2025, the Register Committee is expected to consider two initial applications for registration from two 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 2024, 57 quality assurance agencies were listed on the Register (*). Two agencies were newly admitted to the Register in 2024.

During the year, the Committee took decisions on 15 applications, of which 15 were approved. Out of the 15 decisions, 13 related to renewals of registration, while two agencies were newly admitted to the register. A list of all decisions taken in 2024 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. Additionally, if the agency goes through the focused review, and the re-application is successful the agency shall be included for five years from the date of the first, full external review report. That is why one agency that were newly admitted to the Register in 2024, have a registration date a day in 2022.

In 2024, the Register Committee took ten decisions on applications based on targeted reviews, 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 2024

In 2024, EQAR received 12 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 2024 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 2023).
• The rest of the applications (7 in total), were submitted by agencies whose registration was expiring in 2023. Four of these agencies decided to undergo a targeted rather than a full review. One of these applications with a full review was completed (and accepted) at the end of 2024. Decisions on the remaining six applications for renewal of registration are to be taken throughout 2025.

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 2024 the Register Committee considered 20 change reports. This number is almost similar to 2023, when there were 21 change reports, and higher compared to the 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 one change report, the Committee requested a follow-up report for further information on the changes.

The majority of the reports included changes in the agency’s  external quality assurance activities, from introducing changes in existing activities (40%) to initiating new activities (30%), and only one agency (5%) reported changes in external QA outside the scope of the ESG. These changes illustrate that many agencies have adapted or expanded their range of external quality assurance activities. The majority of the agencies also reported changes in their organisational structure and identity (45%) (see chart). 

In some cases the agencies changed their name (from KAZSEE to CAAAE) or made changes in the governance of the agency (MusiQuE, SKVC, ACSUG, AVAP, BAC, NOKUT, ÜKA, ACCUEE). 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 (ACCUEE, madri+d, THEQC, EAEVE, MusiQuE, BAC, QQI, IAAR).

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 2024, there were 11 QA agencies that completed their targeted reviews, which were then considered and approved by the EQAR Register Committee (see resulting reports for A3ES, ACSUG, AHPGS, AQ Austria, CTI, evalag, IEP, PKA, QQI, Unibasq and VLUHR QA). For the completed procedures, the Register Committee followed the panels conclusions for fifty-nine 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 four QA agencies who applied for this procedure.

EQAR has continued its close collaboration with ENQA as the coordinator of the majority of reviews for EQAR registration. In 2024, 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 2024 EQAR contributed to an ENQA seminar for panel secretaries. The event enabled fruitful discussions with experienced reviewers.

In 2024 one eligibility was approved under the Policy on the Eligibility of Review Coordinators and Panels) for an external review by another coordinator than ENQA.

EQAR’s policy on the Use and interpretation of the ESG (U&I) was developed to enhance the clarity, transparency and consistency of the Register Committee’s judgment of the ESG. The U&I also serves as a reference point for quality assurance agencies preparing for an external review, as well as for external review coordinators and external review panel members.

The first version of the U&I was adopted in 2015, while the second (and current) version was adopted in 2020. Having gained new insights from the consideration of over 50 new applications since the last revision, the Register Committee, at the end of 2023, proposed a set of revisions to the U&I to reflect the precedents in its decision making.

During the first quarter of 2024, EQAR launched an online survey where EQAR-registered agencies, panel members, review coordinators and former Register Committee members were invited to provide suggestions based on their experience by working with the U&I. The survey received a satisfactory number of responses (40 QA agencies, 26 review panel members, two review coordinators and one former Register Committee member).

During the second half of 2024, the Register Committee analysed the responses and made further revisions to the U&I, which then went through an additional consultation with ENQA (as the main review coordinator). At its last meeting in 2024, the Register Committee adopted the revisions.

The revised version of the Use and Interpretation of the ESG can be accessed here.