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NEAA took part in the annual ENQA forum in Budapest, Hungary
Image: NEAA
Between the 22 th and 24th of April 2026, the annual Forum of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) was held in Budapest, Hungary. The forum included a conference and a Session of the General Assembly of ENQA.
The event took place at the HUN-REN Centre for Natural Sciences and was hosted by the Hungarian Accreditation Committee (MAB). The Forum was initiated with introductory addresses by the President of MAB, János Szilágyi, the Honorary President of MAB, Valéria Csépe, and the President of ENQA, Kristina Ghitulica. The opening plenary also included a presentation on the specific features of the higher education system in Hungary and the particularities of the evaluation and accreditation processes in the country.
Image: NEAA
The main topic of the conference was trust in higher education and external quality assurance. During three plenary sessions, participants discussed approaches to building trust in higher education systems and in students' qualifications, the role of European policies in this process, as well as issues related to academic integrity and counteracting academic fraud, including so-called "diploma mills". Good practices, current trends and policies aimed at increasing transparency, affirming academic values and strengthening quality assurance mechanisms were presented.
Image: NEAA
During the Forum, a meeting of the CEOs of ENQA member agencies was also held, at which issues related to the progress in revising the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG2027), the planned changes to the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes, as well as ENQA's role and positions in these processes, were discussed.
Three parallel sessions were also held. The first was on the subject of "Trust, transparency and good conduct in cross-border quality assurance procedures", during which the forthcoming changes to the documents "Key Considerations for Cross-Border Quality Assurance" and "Code of Conduct", drafted by a working group in which NEAA Senior Expert in International Cooperation Dyani Kurulenko participates, were addressed. A practical example of building a system of trust between agencies from different countries was also presented.
Image: NEAA
The second parallel session was related to the the interaction between ENQA's Agency Review Committee and the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) in the processes of external reviews of agencies and the assessment of their compliance with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG). In view of the forthcoming preparation of NEAA's self-assessment report and the subsequent review by ENQA and EQAR in 2027, the session was of particular practical importance for the agency. During the third session, the latest developments in the Standards and Guidelines (ESG) and the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes (EA) were presented and discussed, with the documents being examined as fundamental to building trust in higher education.
Image: NEAA
The programme of the Forum also included a poster session, within which examples from the work of agencies from Estonia, Romania, Spain and other countries were presented. The posters examined the topic of trust in quality assurance from different perspectives, including interaction between stakeholders, peer networks, cross-border quality assurance and the role of technologies and artificial intelligence.
Image: NEAA
During the Forum, a meeting of ENQA's General Assembly was held, at which the Association's activity report for 2025 was presented, including the Leadership Development Programme (LDP), in which senior expert Anastasiya Georgieva took part as a representative of the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency (NEAA). The report also noted NEAA's hosting of the first seminar under the 2025 LDP, held in Sofia. The financial report for 2025 and the organisation's budget for 2026 were voted on. Prof. Eliza Stefanova, President of NEAA, took part in the vote as a representative of an ENQA member agency.
Image: NEAA
The Forum also provided an opportunity for meetings with representatives of agencies from a number of European countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, Estonia, Hungary, Croatia and Romania, as well as with representatives of agencies from countries of the European Higher Education Area. During the meetings, good practices were exchanged and common challenges and opportunities for future cooperation were discussed.
Image: Tibor Barta, Vice-President of EAEVE
The events within the Forum were attended by Prof. Eliza Stefanova, President of NEAA, and Senior Expert Dyani Kurulenko.
Image: NEAA
