EQAF: How quality assurance can help universities tackle the environmental crisis

Internal and external quality assurance can help higher education institutions tackle the environmental crisis, according to Geneviève Le Fort, Vice-Rector for Quality and Social Responsibility at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland.

Speaking at the European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) at Corvinus University in Budapest on 13/11/2025, Le Fort said: "If higher education truly aims to prepare the graduates who design, build and govern in the area of climate, education and social transformation for the future, then the future has to be beautiful. Quality assurance can help ensure that their education equips them for that reality."

QA can be the bridge between policy ambition and actual institutional action, but it faces many challenges, she said. "Quality and sustainability are not always well integrated or collaborating, especially at the institutional level. It should be in every activity, but it's still disconnected, and we don't have enough resources for it."

She was speaking at a session titled "Integrating sustainability into QA: enabling…