International

The Treaty signed by the Dutch and Flemish governments by which NVAO was set up explicitly refers to the international dimension of NVAO's activities. In the explanatory note the importance is underlined of international transparency and independent quality assurance. The ministers therefore stated that “a well functioning and internationally recognised accreditation system is a prerequisite to advance international comparability in higher education”. The choice for co-operation between the Netherlands and Flanders fits in with this international perspective.

Hence, from the outset, NVAO was assigned the task to play an important role in internationalisation. In order to adequately fulfil this international role, NVAO formulated five objectives that outline its international policy. These objectives are:

1. Playing an active membership role in international networks of accreditation (e.g. ECA, INQAAHE, ENQA) and quality assurance organisations;

2. Occupying an international leading position in promoting the Dutch and Flemish accreditation and higher education systems so as to strengthen the international position of the Dutch and Flemish higher education institutions;

3. Cooperating with other accreditation organisations in order to achieve mutual recognition of accreditation decisions;

4. Contributing to the creation of a European Qualifications Area where the competent authorities automatically recognise degrees from accredited programmes and institutions;

5. Pro-actively following up on international developments in quality assurance and higher education.

NVAO is included in the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) which means that NVAO substantially complies with the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG). NVAO is providing the secretariat for the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) and the European Consortium for Accreditation (ECA) and is also a member of ENQA, ECA and INQAAHE.