COVID-19 consequences

A site visit to the institution/programme under review is normally required in an ESG-compliant external quality assurance process. In a situation where (physical) site visits cannot actually be organised as a result of restrictions, it is perfectly acceptable to replace site visits by video conferences or other appropriate formats, to be determined by the agency. Alternatively, site visits could be postponed to a later time if that is possible.

Generally, the ESG do not prescribe the length of accreditation/validity periods. If the agency concluded that the best approach to the current situation is to extend the validity periods of accreditations to expires shortly (e.g. in order to postpone site visits and re-accreditation decisions), this will be considered reasonable and acceptable.

If such decisions are taken, please remember to update the affected records in DEQAR in order to avoid any uncertainty.

The ESG contain no provision that require meetings to be physical. Also, if meetings are postponed to be held in physical form later, such a delay would not be held against an agency. While trainings for experts are usually physical meetings, it is perfectly acceptable to replace those by virtual arrangements if needed under current conditions.

Based on the current information, we do not expect that any registered agency is immediately facing a delay in the report on its external review against the ESG. If you do expect a delay in your next renewal of registration, please contact us.

We do not expect a Substantive Change Report for temporary adaptations of your external quality assurance activities that are a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. We, however, recommend that you document any such changes so that they can be explained in a future external review of the agency, if necessary.

If you make permanent adaptations that remain in effect beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, please report them as usual.

The rule is that site visits in an agency review take place physically. In particular, it is expected that the review panel meets in person and talks to the key actors (e.g. agency leadership) in person. At the same time, hybrid elements may be used (e.g. the panel may choose to carry out some interviews online).

At the current stage of the pandemic, various restrictions remain in place across Europe, but generally travel remains possible, especially for important and essential meetings. The acceptance of online site visits is therefore now differentiated.

For agencies that are already registered on EQAR (review for renewal of registration):

It is possible to organise the entire site visit online if it can be demonstrated that exceptional circumstances (e.g. national lock-down orders) make a physical site visit clearly not feasible, and as long as there is no detriment in terms of thoroughness and comprehensiveness of the review.

This should, however, not be an automatism or without alternative. We expect that a site visit is only carried out online if that is acceptable to the review panel. To avoid any doubt, the report should state that the panel members explicitly agreed to carry out an online site visit.

If an agency is reviewed for renewal of registration and the panel cannot accept an online site visit, EQAR will maintain the agency’s registration as fully valid beyond the usual deadlines until a physical site visit can take place.

For agencies that are newly applying for registration on EQAR (review for initial application):

Online site visits are not accepted for initial applications. If a physical site visit is not feasible the agency needs to postpone the site visit and application until it is.

When an agency is going through its first/initial review, it is not already well-known to the coordinator as is the case for renewal applications. Moreover, the panel needs to start afresh and cannot build on what was reviewed last time and has not changed.

This policy was updated on 14 January 2022. Transitional rule: site visits for initial applications that were scheduled prior to this change and for a date until 30 April 2022 may still be moved online if exceptional circumstances make it necessary.