ECTE achieves EQAR registration

On 29 June 2023, the application of the European Council for Theological Education (ECTE) for inclusion on the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR) was approved (see listing here). Please join us in ECTE in celebrating this historic landmark which formalises the place an ICETE Member Association as a trusted quality assurance agency in Europe.

The EQAR is, in fact, the register of trustworthy quality assurance agencies in the European Higher Education Area which includes most national European agencies and a growing number of cross-border agencies (such as ECTE).

In order to enhance trust and recognition among higher education providers, the Register also features a database of higher education institutions and programmes that have been subject to external quality assurance by registered agencies (DEQAR).

We are grateful for the many intrinsic benefits that the external review process has brought to ECTE and that have helped us become a more professional QA agency that can be listed alongside other longstanding national European agencies. The EQAR registration opens a new season of possibilities for ECTE and its accredited member institutions.  Here are some examples of the advantages:

• The ECTE and its accredited institutions will gain formal status in Europe and doubts will be removed concerning accreditation mills or diploma mills.
• ECTE accredited institutions and programmes will be listed on the DEQAR, hence enhancing recognition and student mobility.
• The DEQAR will soon be featuring an ‘alternative provider’ category, giving formal recognition in the EHEA to the learning opportunities offered by alternative providers accredited by ECTE.
• In some European countries higher education institutions can use a suitable cross border EQAR-registered agency, such as ECTE, for their mandatory external quality assurance.