ECA Agreement of Cooperation

The members of ECA have agreed on their aims, project organisation and main activities in the Agreement of Cooperation. The current Agreement of Cooperation has been signed for the period from January 2012 until June 2015.

Results

The main results achieved by ECA are:

• ECA has established a road map towards mutual recognition. The major milestones include agreements such as the Code of Good Practice; Principles for the Selection of Experts; the Joint declaration between ECA members and ENIC/NARICs in 6 countries on the automatic recognition of qualifications; Principles for accreditation pocedures regarding joint programmes. These main documents can be found here. It has enabled ECA members to sign mutual recognition agreements.

• The project activities have helped to increase mutual understanding of the various accreditation systems and resulted in mutual trust between the involved accreditation organisations. The combination of formal agreements and principles with practical co-operation projects and mutual observations has been particularly useful. ECA partners have carried out several projects that focus e.g. on joint programmes (TEAM II, JOQAR) and training of experts (E-TRAIN). For an overview of ECA projects click here.

• The ECA approach supplements existing initiatives and instruments (e.g. Lisbon Recognition Convention) to facilitate recognition of foreign qualifications by providing transparent and reliable information on the quality of higher education institutions and programmes. The Qrossroads website presents information regarding quality assured and accredited higher education in Europe.

• The co-operation between accreditation organisations and ENIC/NARICs has been very beneficial for both. Both accreditation organisations and ENIC/NARICs are moving towards a situation in which differences are accepted because there is trust in each others (accreditation and recognition) decisions. Click here to consult the ECA-ENIC/NARICs joint declaration concerning the automatic recognition of qualifications.

• European and international stakeholders and networks have been involved in the work of ECA towards mutual recognition. Because of the potential benefits to European and global student mobility it is important to intensify this co-operation within and outside of Europe. Therefore, ECA has entered into cooperation agreements.