EQAF: Independence of quality assurance as a pillar of academic excellence and freedom

Speakers at the European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) in Budapest have stressed the independence of quality assurance agencies as a pillar of maintaining academic excellence and freedom.

At a session on 13/11/2025, Aleksandar Šušnjar, Director of the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR), explained the importance of independence in quality assurance, which his organisation measures based on the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG).

The current ESG were adopted in 2015 and are part of the Bologna Process (which aims to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher-education qualifications).

Padraig Walsh, former CEO of Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), speaking at the same session, stated that internal and external quality assurance were one of the pillars of academic freedom, linking the two issues.

Daniela Craciun, a member of the EQAF Programme Committee, highlighted that these issues were particularly present in Hungary, with a governmental ban on gender studies and the country being cut from Erasmus+ funding following the…