In 2010 the organisations that form the E4 Group, notably ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education), ESU (European Students Union), EUA (European University Association), and EURASHE (European Association of Institutions in Higher Education) launched the "Mapping the Implementation and Application of the Standards…

In accordance with its strategic plan, the Board of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) has undertaken an analysis of the first tranche of review reports of agencies dating from the inception of the process in 2005 until December 2009. The intention of this analysis is to fulfil several purposes: (1) the…

The Internal Quality Assurance group of ENQA (IQA Group) has been organising a yearly seminar for its members since 2007. The main objective is to share experiences concerning the internal quality assurance of work processes in the participating agencies. The overarching theme of the 2011 seminar was how to use benchmarking as a tool for…

In view of the Bologna ministerial conference to be held in April 2012 in Bucharest, ENQA organised a seminar in September 2011 on Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes in collaboration with the Austrian Accreditation Council (OAR). The purpose of this seminar was twofold: first, to analyse the experience already gained in quality assurance of…

Higher education reforms over the last decade, resulting in the establishment of the European Higher Education Area, with new social demands and expectations, have greatly impacted quality assurance in higher education. As a follow-up activity to two previous surveys on external quality procedures, the European Association for Quality Assurance in…

The theme of qualifications frameworks and their relation to quality assurance is gaining urgency in the European scene as more and more countries are completing their national qualifications frameworks and quality assurance agencies need to take important decisions on how to implement them. Some of the key features of the qualifications…

The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), in cooperation with the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA, UK), organised a seminar on theme "Internal Quality Assurance--Enhancing quality culture" which was held on 8-9 June, 2010 in London, United Kingdom. The seminar marked the fourth annual meeting of the ENQA…

The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) realises that there is a steadily growing interest among students and all stakeholders of Higher Education and the public at large in accessing detailed and reliable information on the quality of individual study programmes, faculties and higher education institutions. ENQA…

Ministers responsible for higher education in the Bologna signatory states welcomed in 2005 the principle of a European Register of quality assurance agencies based on national reviews. They asked ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education), in cooperation with EUA (European University Association), EURASHE (European…

Quality assurance for higher education in Europe has developed significantly since 2002, and has increasingly influenced, and been influenced by, the Bologna Process. A major step in the Bologna Process was taken at the ministerial meeting in Bergen in May 2005, with the adoption of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the…

The annual meeting of the ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) IQA (internal quality assurance) Group gathered some 60 participants in the premises of the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) in The Hague in June 2009. This seminar was a successful follow-up to the first ENQA IQA…

E-learning in the European Higher Education Area has stampeded its way to the foreground of the Quality Assurance (QA) forum, and has become a key issue among quality assurance agencies and institutions in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Because internet-based learning is currently such a relevant topic, there is a dire need for the…

The purpose of this report is to review the past and present external quality assurance for higher education in Portugal and to recommend a future quality assurance and accreditation system that meets the standards for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area. The review was carried out on the initiative of the Portuguese Ministry…

In this publication ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) has taken the opportunity to bring together two distinct but related reports. Part 1 examines the language of European quality assurance. It grew out of the debates and discussions at an ENQA workshop in Warwick in June 2006. The success of the workshop…

The second Transnational European Evaluation Project (TEEP II) was undertaken between August 2004 and June 2006. A methodology for evaluating transnational programmes had previously been tested during 2002-2003 by ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) in the first Transnational European Evaluation Project (TEEP I).…