Organisational Development and Finances

All parties to the European Cultural Convention, signed in Paris on 19 December 1954, that are full members of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), may become Governmental Members.

At the end of year, EQAR had 45 governmental members or 43 countries* that were involved in the overall governance of EQAR. This is the same number as the previous year.

* There are two ways to count EQAR members; the number of of governmental members or the number 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 for the UK.

The EQAR General Assembly was held in Brussels on 12 April 2024, in conjunction with the BFUG meeting, hosted by the Belgian Ministries of Education, in the framework of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Yearly recurring agenda items
The General Assembly adopted the agenda, the minutes, the budget 2024 and the Workplan 2024-2025, and took note of the Annual Report, the Progress Report on the Work Plan 2023/24 and the updates.

The approval of the accounts 2023 and the discharge of the Board were postponed to a later date until the (imminent) arrival of the Auditors Report. During an online Extraordinary General Assembly, held on 23 May 2024, members approved the accounts 2023 and discharged the Board. The budget 2025 was approved during an online Extraordinary General Assembly, held on 13 November 2024.

Thematic Session
The thematic session consisted of a presentation on the recent expansion of DEQAR, featuring micro-credentials and other providers by Aleksandra Zhivkovikj, Policy and Project Officer of EQAR.

Special topics

• Strategy 2024-2028
  The General Assembly adopted the Strategy 2024-2028. The strategy consist of three strategic goals:
  – transparency, information and connectivity;
  – trust and recognition;
  – strengthening EQAR’s organisational capacities.
• Changes at the EQAR Secretariat
  The Board informed the GA of the circumstances that had led to decision to not retain the former director, who, since 22 March 2024, was no longer employed at EQAR. Consequently Annelies Traas had been appointed as Acting Head of the Secretariat, as of 27 March 2024, until the time that a new Director would be recruited and would start working.
• Appointment of auditors
  The GA re-appointed the current statutory auditor for the next three financial years.

Confirmation of the EQAR Board
The GA confirmed the founding members’ representatives on the Board for the years 2024-2026:

• Anna Gover (ENQA) – newly elected (Goran Dakovic’s mandate ended on 13 April 2024 and Goran decided not to re-stand.)
• Jakub Grodecki (EURASHE) – re-elected
• Maria Kelo (EUA) – re-elected
• Horia Onita (ESU) – re-elected

According to the agreed rotation, the Board assumed the following functions as per 13 April 2024, with Stéphane Lauwick as President:

• Maria Kelo – Vice-President
• Horia Onita – Treasurer (until 2 July 2024*)
• Lana Par – Treasurer (from 18 July 2024 onward*)

Horia Onița, upon finishing his mandate at ESU, resigned as EQAR Board member on 2 July 2024. Lana Par, the new ESU nominee, was confirmed as EQAR Board member on 18 July.

• Read more about the General Assembly in the relevant news item
• See under Annexes “EQAR data” the full composition of the various EQAR bodies in 2024.

There were several staff changes in 2024:

• Giorgi Munjishvili started working as Policy and Project Officer on 1 January 2024. He was recruited to support the Register (analyse applications and change reports, review & update information, guide agencies), to work on the maintenance and development of DEQAR and also to do project related work and desk research.
• Magalie Soenen was no longer employed at EQAR from 22 March 2024.
• Annelies Traas was appointed Acting Head of the Secretariat on 27 March 2024, until the time that a new director could be recruited and start working. In order to fulfill this new role on top of her old one (Communications Officer), she moved to full-time employment (in lieu of 70%).
• Aleksandar Šušnjar was recruited in June 2024 and started as EQAR Director on 9 September 2024.

The total Secretariat staff at the end of 2024 remained at 5,4 FTE, but for a period of six months the total Secretariat staff was 4.7 FTE.

The Members’ Dialogue usually covers recent policy developments in quality assurance as well as EQAR’s current and future activities. Thanks to the informal setting, it also serves as a forum for exchange and networking among governments on issues related to quality assurance. EQAR’s 14th Members’ Dialogue took place online on 28-29 October, both days in the afternoon only.

• Topics of the first afternoon centered mainly around the European Degree package and what this entailed for EQAR. Attention was also paid to EQAR’s contribution to the European Degree package in relation to DEQAR and the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes (EA). The latter session kicked off with a presentation from the European Commission followed by three practical examples (of Sweden, Austria and Una Europa).
• A very relevant session, related to EQAR’s core work, delved deeper into ESG compliance challenged by national regulations. The recently started ESG revision process was also touched upon, as were the latest developments within DEQAR, with presentations by the Polish ENIC-NARIC (NAWA) about their DEQAR intergration as well as the European Commission (DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) about European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDCL) and DEQAR.
• Two other topics were “Quality of recognition – Insights from the analysis of reports by EQAR registered agencies” and “Certifying Micro Credentials offered by Alternative Providers”. The last session of the second afternoon featured a panel discussing EQAR’s contributions to the new working cycle of the BFUG.

Read more about the Members’ Dialogue in the relevant news-item on our website.

The year 2023 resulted in a deficit of EUR 111 773,13. A deficit of around EUR 87 000 was anticipated last year, however, the larger deficit is a result of continued inflation, increasing staff costs (automatic indexation in Belgium and appointment of new director), costs related to external travel and also a relocation to new premises.

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