Ministers Reach Important QA Agreements
European Ministers of Higher Education from the 47 Bologna Process countries met on 26 and 27 April 2012 in Bucharest to agree on future priorities for the EHEA. The Bucharest Communiqué, agreed by Ministers at the conference, addresses important issues for quality assurance of higher education: Ministers agreed to “allow all EQAR-registered agencies to perform their activities across the EHEA, while complying with national requirements” and particularly to recognise their decisions on joint and double degree programmes.
Ministers agreed to revise the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) and asked for a proposal to be prepared the E4 Group (ENQA, ESU, EUA, EURASHE) in cooperation with BUSINESSEUROPE, Education International and EQAR.
Ministers reaffirmed that “quality assurance is essential for building trust” and set automatic recognition of qualifications, based on quality assurance and other Bologna tools (learning outcomes, qualifications frameworks), as a long-term goal for the EHEA.
EQAR was represented in the conference and submitted a statement to ministers.