What is ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education)?

ENQA is the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, a membership organisation that represents quality assurance agencies in European higher education policy-making. It is relevant to you if you work for or with a quality assurance agency, a higher education institution, or a stakeholder body involved in external quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

What ENQA does

ENQA describes its mission as three connected activities:

• Representing its members in policy-making — speaking for quality assurance agencies in European-level discussions.
• Supporting members in implementing EHEA commitments on quality assurance — helping agencies meet the standards and guidelines the EHEA has agreed.
• Providing a forum for evidence-informed exchange, development and enhancement in external quality assurance — a space where agencies share practice and develop approaches together.

In short, ENQA is both a representative body and a practitioner network for external quality assurance.

Main areas of activity

The organisation's work is visible through several recurring strands:

Agency reviews

ENQA coordinates external reviews of quality assurance agencies. Its site lists upcoming reviews by agency and year, for example:

These reviews are the mechanism through which agencies are assessed against European quality assurance expectations.

Publications

ENQA publishes analyses, briefing notes and reports, including:

• A briefing note on the Operational Guide for the Joint European Degree Label
• "Quality and learning for sustainability in higher education: analytical summary of survey findings"
• Annual report 2025
• ENQA Leadership Development Programme 2025 Project Group Reports
• "Stakeholder involvement in quality assurance: ENQA thematic analysis"

Events

ENQA runs a regular programme of events, such as:

• ENQA General Assembly 2026, 21–23 October, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, organised with ACCUEE
• 2026 European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF), 18–20 November, Yerevan, Armenia, hosted by the National Polytechnic University of Armenia
• ENQA webinar: QA of TNE: Insights from the ROQA-TNE Mapping, 23 November 2026

Projects and calls

The site also carries news on projects and open calls, such as the SIQA staff mobility programme, the Fraud-Act project webinar on preventing and countering education fraud, and calls for experts or working group members.

Who it is for

ENQA's audience is primarily:

• Quality assurance agencies in European higher education, as members and review subjects.
• Higher education institutions and stakeholder organisations that follow European quality assurance policy.
• Policy-makers and researchers looking for evidence, analysis and events on external quality assurance.

If you are outside this field, ENQA is mainly useful as a source of European-level policy positions, review schedules and publications rather than as a direct service provider.

How to use the site

The homepage is organised around five entry points: Latest news, Our mission, Agency reviews, Publications, and Events. Start with "Our mission" for the organisation's role, "Agency reviews" if you need to check whether a specific agency is under review, and "Publications" or "Events" for current analysis and upcoming meetings.