Quality Assurance and Quality Development in Higher Education Institutions

The German quality assurance system is embedded in relevant international networks. The German accreditation system has now been confirmed in two evaluation procedures with international participation. These evaluations also explicitly established the compliance of the German quality assurance system with the European requirements set out in the 'European Standards and Guidelines' (ESG) and the 'European Consortium for Accreditation in Higher Education' (ECA) as a prerequisite for the full membership of the German Accreditation Council in the 'European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education' (ENQA).

Based on the requirements set by the Federal Constitutional Court on February 17, 2016, the federal states agreed on a Study Accreditation State Treaty. It came into force on January 1, 2018.

The accreditation and re-accreditation of degree programs and internal quality assurance systems at universities is a core responsibility of the 'Foundation for the Accreditation Council.' Accreditation decisions are based on expert reports prepared by agencies authorized by the Accreditation Council.

The ‘Foundation for the Accreditation Council’ is a joint institution of the Länder for accreditation and quality assurance in study and teaching at German higher education institutions. Through the Foundation, the states jointly fulfill their tasks in the context of quality assurance and development. In doing so, they meet their overall responsibility for ensuring the equivalence of comparable study and examination achievements as well as degrees, which serves as the basis for mobility within the higher education system.

The governing bodies of the Foundation are the Accreditation Council, the Executive Board, and the Foundation Council. The Foundation Council consists of six representatives of the federal states and five representatives of the German Rectors' Conference. The legal basis for the Foundation's work is the "Law on the Foundation Accreditation Council (Accreditation Council Act)").

The Accreditation Council is the central decision-making body of the 'Foundation for the Accreditation Council.' Its responsibilities include:

• Accrediting and re-accrediting degree programs and internal quality assurance systems by awarding the Foundation’s seal,
• Defining the requirements for recognizing accreditations by foreign institutions,
• Authorizing agencies,
• Promoting international cooperation in the field of accreditation and quality assurance,
• Supporting the federal states in further developing the German quality assurance system.

The members of the Accreditation Council are appointed by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs and the German Rectors' Conference for a term of four years.

Instruments of Accreditation are

• System Accreditation: Review of internal university quality assurance systems in the area of teaching and learning with external involvement to ensure performance capability.
• Program Accreditation: Quality assurance and quality development of individual degree programs with external involvement.
• Other procedures coordinated with the Accreditation Council and the respective federal state (alternative procedures).

In all procedures, the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ESG) apply. The choice of accreditation instruments is left to the universities. The basis of accreditation is the formal and subject-specific criteria regulated in the State Treaty as well as the corresponding state regulations (legal ordinances) that specify the criteria set out in the State Treaty and the procedure. 

The basis of these state regulations is the Model Ordinance pursuant to Article 4 paragraphs 1 to 4 of the Study Accreditation State Treaty, which the federal states agreed upon in the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs on December 7, 2017, to ensure the uniformity required for guaranteeing state responsibility. On November 21, 2024, the Conference of Science Ministers, as a result of an extensive evaluation process involving the actors participating in the accreditation system, adopted a revision of the Model Ordinance. You can find the old version of the ordinance here.

The review within the framework of system and program accreditation is carried out by one of the agencies registered with the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) and approved by the Accreditation Council.
The review takes place with significant involvement of external, independent experts from societal sectors relevant to quality assurance, in particular representatives from academia and professional practice as well as students, and with the participation of academically related university professors. This process is based on the provisions of the Study Accreditation State Treaty and the legal ordinances issued by the Länder on the basis of the Model Ordinance.

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As part of the internationalization efforts of German universities, study programs in cooperation with foreign universities are increasingly being offered. They are referred to under the umbrella term “Joint Programmes.”

The political and cultural disparities and the heterogeneity of regulations in the participating countries have led to high complexity and an above-average organizational effort for accreditation.

At the Bologna Ministerial Conference in May 2015, the “European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes” was adopted. It stipulates that any agency listed in the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) can carry out accreditation procedures for Joint Programmes, applying exclusively ESG-based quality standards.

The Model Ordinance and the legal ordinances issued by the federal states on this basis ensure that the so-called “European Approach” is applied to joint-degree programs.