European Quality Criteria

One of the commitments made by madri+d Foundation for Knowledge as the body designated for the evaluation of quality in Higher Education is collaboration and support for the Madrid university system in the effective implementation of the European Higher Education Area.

Developing a university system based on European standards requires acting under the principles of quality, mobility, diversity and competitiveness.

The key milestones of this entire process can be achieved in:

  • The adoption of the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System).
  • The new structure of degrees: Bachelor, Master and Doctorate.
  • The transparency required of the entire university system.
  • The accountability of the system to society.
  • The promotion of student and teacher mobility.
  • The assessment of quality standards as an objective for mutual recognition.

The Criteria and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area reinforced the quality principles that should guide the performance of all actors involved in the development of the European Higher Education Area and also created an instrument that would allow comparability in terms of the quality levels achieved for a mutual recognition.

In the Declaration of Berlin of September 19, 2003, the ministers of the signatory States to the Bologna Declaration instructed the members of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), in collaboration with the European University Association (EUA), the European Association of Institutions of Higher Education (EURASHE) and the National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB), to develop "a set of standards, procedures and guidelines for quality assurance" as well as to "to explore the most appropriate methods to evaluate externally the guarantee of the quality of university institutions and the accreditation agencies and/or bodies". As a result of this collaboration in 2005, ENQA produced the document entitled Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA, which establishes European standards for internal and external quality assurance, ESG.

The standards are presented in three blocks:

  • European standards and guidelines for internal quality assurance in higher education institutions.
  • European standards and guidelines for external quality assurance in higher education.
  • European standards and guidelines for external quality assurance agencies.

Update of the European Quality Criteria

In 2012, the group formed by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), European Students' Union (ESU), European University Association (EUA), European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE), Education International (EI), BUSINESSEUROPE, European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR), was commissioned the revision of the European Quality Criteria.

The work carried out has been reflected in the new version of the "Criteria and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education", adopted at the Conference of Ministers of the European Higher Education Area held on 14 and 15 May 2015 in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, by the ministers who signed the Bologna Declaration.

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Standards and guidelines for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) (707 KB)