8th European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) was held on November, 21-23, 2013 in the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The event has been annually co-organised by ENQA, ESU, EUA and EURASHE since 2006.

The Forum is the European conference on quality assurance in higher education that brings together all of the key stakeholders in the field – higher education institutions, quality assurance agencies and students. This event is considered by the four co-organising partners as a major contribution to QA in higher education, and a flagship activity in this field.

The main purpose of the event is to foster a dialogue on quality assurance that bridges national and organisational boundaries and leads to a truly European discussion on QA in higher education (notably through the Bologna Process higher education reforms), thus creating a common European understanding of QA.

The EQAF was entitled “Working together to take quality forward”. This year the Forum specifically explored how both individuals and organizations can better understand the role that quality assurance can play in their daily lives, get engaged and work together to take quality forward. There was a particular emphasis on the concept of “quality culture” and the importance of attitudes and values.

The European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) provided a platform for discussion, professional development and exchange of experiences among the main stakeholders in quality assurance (QA).  The event brought together 450 higher education stakeholders from 50 countries including representatives of business community, accrediting agencies, rectors of higher education institutions, students and representatives of different international organizations.

Great interest was aroused by two plenary sessions which were organized in the form of several working sections. During the first session recent European policy developments in quality assurance, challenges of external quality assurance and students engagement were discussed. The second session was dedicated to the issues of quality, transparency and enhancement in doctoral education, promoting cooperation through external quality assurance reports and social aspects of quality assurance.

The Forum was attended not only by the representatives of European community but also by the stakeholders from Israel, Portugal, Kenya, Tanzania and other countries.

National Centre for Public Accreditation was represented on the Forum by V. Navodnov, Director, and G. Motova, Deputy Director.

The ninth EQAF will take place at the University of Barcelona, Spain, on 13-15 November 2014.

More information is available on the website of EUA.