Presentation

The European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) provides a unique platform for the higher education and quality assurance (QA) communities to monitor, shape and anticipate developments in the field. The main purpose of the Forum is to foster a dialogue on QA that bridges national boundaries and leads to a truly European discussion on QA in higher education, and to create a common European understanding of QA through discussions and networking among different stakeholder groups.

The 10th European Quality Assurance Forum, co-organised by ENQA, ESU, EUA and EURASHE, took place on 19-21 November 2015, hosted by the Quality Assurance Agency / UCL Institute of Education, London, United Kingdom.

Through a mix of plenary and parallel sessions, the 2015 EQAF, entitled “Taking stock and looking forward”, combined presentations of current developments in quality assurance with discussions on research, policy and practice. The Forum provides an opportunity for participants to update their knowledge and extend their professional development.

Forum objectives

2015 marks not only the 10th anniversary of EQAF, but also 10 years since the introduction of the ESG and five years since the formal launch of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). With the recent adoption of the revised ESG, this year presents an ideal moment to take stock of the status of European QA policies and assess their impact on all stakeholders. The Forum will examine QA in the EHEA from a variety of perspectives and explore the ways in which concrete practices in institutions and agencies reflect European level policies.

Participants

The European Quality Assurance Forum provides a platform for discussion, professional development and exchange of experiences among the main stakeholders in quality assurance (QA). Specifically, the Forum will be of interest to rectors and vice-rectors responsible for QA, QA officers in higher education institutions, students, QA agency staff and researchers working on higher education or the QA field.

Review

The 2015 European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) was held in London, UK on 19-21 November, hosted by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and UCL Institute of Education. Over 500 participants attended, making it the largest EQAF to date and a fitting way to mark the 10th anniversary of the Forum.

This year, under the title of ‘Taking stock and looking forward’, EQAF reflected on the developments in quality assurance (QA) and higher education over the past decade, from the introduction of the first edition of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) in 2005, the formal launch of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in 2010, right up to the revision of the ESG earlier in this year. In doing this, participants examined the added value that QA brings to the higher education landscape and how best to demonstrate that.

Looking to the future, much of the discussion focused on the consequences of the ESG 2015 for all higher education stakeholders and challenges that might be faced in meeting the new expectations laid out in the document, which aims to further strengthening the European QA framework, while continuing to respect diversity in national and institutional approaches. In many places, changes are already being made, and some of these were discussed in greater detail in the EQAF paper and workshop sessions, with a range of concrete practices and case studies being presented.

For those who missed EQAF 2015, or who want to relive some of it, recordings of the three plenary sessions are available here, together with the presentations and papers from the Forum.