Organisation & Structure
EQAR is incorporated as an International Non-Profit Association under Belgian law (aisbl/ivzw) and was founded by the E4 Group. Its organisational structure was designed to enable the independent Register Committee to manage the Register of quality assurance agencies, and to ensure independence and integrity by appropriate checks and balances.
An association (aisbl/ivzw) is by definition a membership-based legal entity. Unlike probably most such organisations, the organisational structure of EQAR was not developed with its members being the starting point. Rather, the Register Committee was the “nucleus” and the first body whose responsibilities and composition were clearly defined.
This is a result of EQAR’s public-interest role, and it was part of the operational model and the EHEA’s political agreement (see EQAR history) that a Register Committee, composed of nominees from different stakeholder backgrounds, would be the gatekeeper and that an independent legal entity had to be created. The remaining structure of EQAR was thus primarily designed to accommodate the Register Committee and to create the necessary support structure around it.
