European Quality AssuranceRegister for Higher Education

EQAR and its Expectationsof the Reviews of Agencies

ENQA Training of Agency ReviewersLjubljana, 22 September 2016

Colin Tück

European Quality Assurance Registerfor Higher Education (EQAR)

Mission: enhancetransparency and trust in QA

EHEA's official register ofQAAs that complysubstantially with the ESG

Registration and periodicrenewal based on externalreview

Decisions by independentRegister Committee QA experts nominated by

ENQA, ESU, EUA, EURASHE,BusinessEurope, EducationInternational

43 registered QAAs

Governmental memberswithout registered agency

Further monitoring

Registration based on external review of agency

Annual updates on reviews and countries

Substantive change reports

Third-party complaints

Periodic renewal every 5 years

Reviews for EQARregistration

ENQA; 32

GermanAccred-itationCouncil;8

Others; 3

Review coordinators Requirements Independent coordinator Panel representing various

perspectives Interviews with all

stakeholders Access to all evidence

Economic model Reviews with dual purpose,

e.g. ENQA and EQAR, orGAC and EQAR

Changes in applicationprocess (2015)

New Old

Application Before review After review

Check of eligibility First step of process Prior check optional

External review Follows eligibility check Before application

Flags No longer used In approval decision

Publication policy: Full documentation Decision only

Relevant documents forreviewers

General

Policy on Use andInterpretation of the ESGfor the European Register To be read in conjunction with

the full text of the ESG Replaces “Practices and

Interpretations” New element: “Reports

should at least demonstrate”

Procedures for Applicationsand specific policies

https://eqar.eu/documents/official.html

For each agency

Eligibility confirmationletter(via ENQA)

Previous decision(EQAR website)

Substantive ChangeReports(EQAR website)

Complaints(if any, EQAR website)

Information per agency

SubstantiveChangeReport

Previousdecision

Coverage of reviews

All external QA activities within the scope of the ESG Obligatory and voluntary Within the EHEA and outside the EHEA See eligibility confirmation letters to agencies

International/cross-border activities Clear procedures and criteria

Activities “discovered” during review Analyse if potentially relevant

Consultative activities Clear separation needed Transparency: different nature, what is ESG and what is not

Review report

Clarity Link between evidence and conclusions Avoid vague statements Separate ESG compliance and further recommendations Dissenting opinion if major disagreement

Specifically address different activities under ESG 2.1 – 2.7 Subheadings are useful Demonstrate that all activities comply with the ESG Conclusion could differ between activities

Standard 2.1 Link between agency's standards and ESG 1.1 – 1.10

Decision-making

Conclusions for each standard Overall judgement

Review panel

Substantially compliant

Not substantially compliant

either ...

… or

Register Committee decision

Full compliance

Substantial compliance

Partial compliance

Non-compliance

Compliance (full or substantial)

Partial compliance

Non-compliance

All standards

One or more

One or more → holistic judgement

Clarification requests to panel chair if needed If conclusion differs from panel, explained in public decision

Publication

Thank you for your attention!

Contact:colin.tueck@eqar.eu

+32 2 234 39 11

@ColinTueck @EQAR_he