E4’s Work on the European Register of Quality Assurance Agencies

Since the Bergen Ministerial meeting of May 2005, ENQA has followed the mandate of elaborating, in cooperation with EUA, EURASHE and ESIB (E4 Group), the practical aspects of the European Register of Quality Assurance Agencies and of reporting back on the respective developments through the BFUG. The E4 Group has met nine times since the Bergen summit. The Chair of the meetings has rotated amongst the four organisations, while the secretarial functions as well as the reporting to BFUG, have been undertaken by ENQA.

The first stage of the process consisted of a consultancy exercise. A consultant studied the Register proposal included in the report Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA (BFUG4_3 Report on Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA - European Quality Assurance Standards - May 2005) and interviewed various quality assurance stakeholders in Europe. On that basis the consultant produced a report on the possible forms and practicalities of the Register. The consultancy project was funded through grants from the Socrates programme and from the Swiss Confederation.
During the second stage, the E4 Group discussed further the proposals contained in the consultant’s report and consulted a law firm on the legal aspects of the Register. ENQA also consulted the views of its members at its General Assembly of September 2006.
The third stage included the drafting of the E4 report on the Register that was submitted to the BFUG meeting in March, and further discussed in April 2007. European Register of Quality Assurance Agencies 2007

Peter Williams, ENQA

Source: Bergen to London 2007 - Secretariat Report on the Bologna Work Programme 2005-2007
Bologna Process between Bergen and London

EQAR

In 2007, the European Ministers of Education, having received the E4 London report agreed that the E4 should proceed to setting up the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR).